Ikkaku: Forbidden Love Chronicles
by Lady1Venus
Summary: Feeling the stress of being a princess of the Soul Society, Esmeralda is protected by Ikkaku in a mission, which later becomes secret visits when the job is done. Will they be able to find a way to make their relationship work without being forced apart? IkkakuxOC. Rating change for profanity
1. Part 1

_Author's Notes: Here I am again writing another fic for my friend as a commission. This time it's a Bleach fic with one of her favorite characters Ikkaku. It's time for Ikkaku to get a woman. Setting of the story is end of season 3 and before the Bounts._

**Forbidden Love  
****Part 1**

With a Captain's meeting it usually wasn't normal to have the request non-Captain level personal to be present at such proceedings, but on this day, Head Captain Yamamoto insisted for Kenpachi to have his Third Seated officer present. Kenpachi was quite surprised by this. Never in his career of being a Captain had he ever been called to bring a subordinate to the meeting. He had seen many times many of the others be requested to have one present but never him. And there were times when Lieutenants were required to be present and this meeting just happened to be on of those times.

However there was a snag that was also unusual. They were three Captains short. Captain Aizen, Captain Tosen and Captain Ichimaru had defected to Heuco Mundo, betraying the Soul Society and their comrades. The cleanup efforts to the Seireitei were still in progress and the one Squad most affected by the new adjustment was Squad 5. Captain Aizen had stabbed his own Lieutenant after faking his death and she was still not up to par for performance, which left Squad 5 position vacant. All remaining Captains were helping Squad 5 pick up the slack.

As the meeting went on speaking about what everyone already knew, which was, of course, about those who betrayed them and what the clean up efforts were doing, Ikkaku was standing behind his Captain, scowling, annoyed on the idea he was there listening to the old man go on and on.

"With that now out of the way," Yamamoto announced. "There is something new that needs addressing, which is the reason I requested the presence of Captain Zaraki's Third Seat to be among us."

"Finally," Ikkaku muttered under his breath, to himself.

"Third Seat Ikkaku Madarame step forward," Yamamoto, commanded.

Looking presentable, Ikkaku stepped around Captain Ukitake and stood in the center of the Captains. Doing what was proper, as soon as he stood directly in front of Captain Kuchiki, he went down on one knee. "Yes, Head Captain?"

"Ikkaku Madarame enlight of the situation, I have a mission for you. You are to travel to the land Captain Komamura is from and there you shall meet an Elven Princess. She is to be protected from a neighbouring warring land."

Ikkaku looked up, jaw dropping. "Head Captain? Why would someone like myself be required to such a task?"

"Because I asked for it," answered Sajin who no longer was wearing a helmet to cover up the fact he was an over sized wolf being.

Ikkaku turned to the largest Captain in the room. "Are you serious?"

"Very. Princess Esmeralda needs protection while there are negations between the two lands. Her parents have come to me asking for Soul Reaper protection. And you know yourself the monarchs in the Soul Society are higher in nobility than those in the Seireitei."

"You will go to the land and protect the Princess with your life and there will be no protests about it. Right now we can't afford to doubt nor ignore requests when they come from other lands. You will be given a map in how to get there, which is a three day's journey and flash stepping in some areas will not be possible."

"But sir…" Ikkaku stood, completely surprised by this.

Yamamoto held his hand for Ikkaku to be silent. "You will leave in the morning. I wish you luck. Hopefully this warring land doesn't have anything to do with Aizen and his treachery. Dismissed!"

Hearing that, Ikkaku's jaw dropped once more as the remaining Captains and Lieutenants began to make their way out of the room. Kenpachi was the last Captain to leave as he turned to see his subordinate. "Hey! Ikkaku! Snap out of it!"

Yachiru jumped up on his shoulder. "Looks like baldy, for once, is flabbergasted and doesn't know what to say," she said in her normal cheerful voice.

Ikkaku was quick to turn to the Lieutenant. "Will you shut up! And stop calling me that!"

"Well then stop moping around like a log," Yachiru continued not phased by his anger towards her. "Really. I think you need to get out more. Your bald head might get a tan…" She then put a finger to her chin. "But then again, if you got a tan, the rest of your face would change color too." She then gave a cheeky grin. "Bright side. You won't look like a cue ball anymore."

"Why you…" Ikkaku snarled as he clenched his fist.

"Quit your complaining," Kenpachi replied. "You have a job. Now get your ass back to the barracks on the double."

Growling, Ikkaku made his way over to his Captain but didn't stop as he past him and made his way down the hall where he was able to get outdoors. Once out of the Squad 1 Barracks, he was quick to make his way back to the barracks, finding Yumichika.

Yumichika saw the look his friend was showing and could tell he wasn't happy. Then again he got the sure sign Ikkaku was pissed the second the man slammed his fist down on the table Yumichika was sitting at, nearly spilling his drink.

"I take it, it didn't go so well," Yumichika stated.

"Don't get me started," Ikkaku growled. "I've been placed on guard duty to some Princess in another land where Captain Komamura is from."

"And that's the reason you're pissed off?" he asked.

"No! The Lieutenant and her constant insults towards me!"

"Well she does have a habit of pissing you off no matter what the situation is." Yumichika picked up his drink, taking a sip and then just held it in his hands. He really didn't want it to go flying when Ikkaku would hit the table again, which he knew he would, eventually.

Just as Yumichika predicted, his friend once again, slammed his fist on the table once more. "Damn why does she infuriate me so much?!"

"Perhaps it's because she knows she gets under your skin." Yumichika took another drink, eyes closed. "May I make a suggestion, Ikkaku?"

Ikkaku turned to his friend. "What?" he snapped.

"Do you really want to spend your last day for probably the next several pissed at our Lieutenant for something we both know she does for the fun of it?"

Ikkaku took a seat opposite of his friend, resting his sword on the back of his neck. "Not really," he huffed. "I have to protect some Princess chick and from what I've heard from Ichigo, they can be a royal pain in the ass. Worse than the Lieutenant."

"That's true," Yumichika agreed. "Sometimes there's no pleasing women. And some are easy to push their buttons, sending them off the deep end." He was referring to Rukia and how he'd seen her flip out a lot.

Ikkaku took several deep breaths. "This assignment is strange. No one has ever been asked to go beyond the Rukon District to help the neighbouring lands and yet I've been asked to babysit some Princess because her land is at war with another."

"Well we have been handed worse assignments before. At least doing this, you're getting out of the boring duties."

"That's true." Ikkaku then grinned. "Guess you'll be stuck doing my work load as well. Ha ha!"

Yumichika sweat dropped, lowering his head. "You just had to say that, didn't you?"

Seeing he was cheered up now, Yumichika relaxed his drink back on the table knowing now his friend wouldn't tip it over. "Now why don't we go and pester someone, blackmailing them to do our jobs for today?"

Ikkaku's grin widened. "Now, that sounds like a good plan. What better way to spend my last night here, before leaving for some strange place, bugging the hell out of others."

The two men stood. Ikkaku began to make his way out of the room. Yumichika, leaving his drink, followed his friend, heading towards the nearest sucker who would fall for their tricks. Squad 11 were the best fighters in the Soul Society, but they were also the biggest connivers as well.

* * *

Out in the land known as North District, which happened to be a land of non-human like people. They were citizens of varied people who had animal like features but also have a human quality to them as well. Though not everyone had an animal feature. Some were known as Elves and were the rulers of the land. One in particular was known as Esmeralda with long flowing purple hair with ears always pointed out of her hair.

After being ask to see her parents, Esmeralda, dressed in a simple gown with a small shawl tied around her waist, went to see what her parents wanted.

"Yes, Mother. Father," she replied in a soft gentle like voice.

"Since we are having the counsel coming to start negotiations to end the war, we have hired you some protection," her father explained.

"Protection? I don't need protection," Esmeralda voiced.

Her mother sighed. She knew this was going to happen. "It's not up for you to decide. Someone from the Seireitei, a Soul Reaper, will be here in three days and he will be your guardian while the negotiations are going on."

"I'm not a little girl anymore, I don't need someone to look after me. Besides why can't the royal guards do it?" Esmeralda didn't like this at all.

Her father gave a look of annoyance. "Esmeralda. You are a Princess of this land. Someday will be ruler. We need to keep you protected at all costs. Our enemy could very easily use you to conquer our land. A Soul Reaper can help protect you better than any guard here."

Esmeralda huffed. "Fine." Even with her soft voice, it was easy to hear her annoyance within. "I would like to put on record that I protest against this."

"Protest duly noted," her father interjected.

Her mother stood, walking from her throne to her daughter. "Here's a picture of a typical Soul Reaper. This is not the person who is protecting you, but you can see by the clothing in what he will be wearing when he arrives. We are told his name is Ikkaku."

Esmeralda looked at the photo. "So this Ikkaku guy will be wearing this black garb? It's not very stylish."

"It's not supposed to be. Soul Reapers are the military force for the Rukon District. One of our citizens left and became a Soul Reaper and he is now a Captain," her father explained.

Esmeralda rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Is that all?"

"One day you're going to rule this place and you need to start knowing your place," her father nearly demanded harshly.

Esmeralda tilted her head. "Can I go now?"

Her father huffed. "Fine. Go. But you better be here in three days when he arrives, Esmeralda."

Esmeralda turned, leaving the throne room going to her room. Once getting to her room, she looked at her bed and felt angry.

"Why do they do this to me!?" she snapped. "I'm not a little girl anymore. I've over 500 years old. That's a far cry from needing a babysitter and if they had allowed me to learn how to fight, then this wouldn't be happening."

To her this was completely not fair. She was going to be protected by some guy she had no idea who he was or what he looked like. She was already making her mind up to not like him.

She no had no doubt in her mind Ikkaku was probably some ugly short man who would think her job was the best place for a woman… to sit on the sidelines and watch the man do the dirty work. She had no idea there were female Soul Reapers and both were treated equally. There was even a female Captain who many men actually feared.

The negotiations were starting in four days and were going to last three weeks. That meant she was going to have to deal with this guy for that length of time. It was going to be pure hell for her.

Slamming her head against the wall, she ignored the pain as her anger won out. "How the hell am I going to survive this?" she asked. "I didn't ask for this."

Knowing no one was going to answer, she removed her head from the wall and decided to distract her thoughts. Going to her closet. She soon exited out wearing a one-piece black bathing suit with attached skirt. At the top left side was a large pink flower. She then went to her adjoining bathroom where she grabbed a large towel. All suited up, she left her room, going straight to the outdoor pool. The air was warm and with the sun shining, it was a perfect day for a swim. Swimming was one of her best hobbies to relax.

Of course her being of a royal, she had a wide variety to choose from, ranging in one-pieces to two-piece bikinis. Some were skimpy while others were quite modest looking. The one she chose this time was a modest type, hiding all her womanly assets quite nicely.

* * *

On the appointed day of Ikkaku's arrival, Esmeralda was dressed in one of her best gowns waiting with her parents for the Soul Reaper's arrival. Much to the King and Queen's disappointment, their daughter was being stubborn. She didn't want to smile for when the man as he would enter and wasn't standing properly, using a bit of a slouch instead.

"Esmeralda!" her father commanded. "You will stand straight properly and look proper like you were born to do."

She sighed in annoyance. The doors to the throne room opened just as she straightened herself up, looking proper, just in time to witness a man wearing a Soul Reaper uniform with a sheathed sword tucked away in his standard white sash.

Esmeralda gasped as the man walked through the door. He was nothing like what she thought. He wasn't short he was taller than her. He looked a bit handsome and had no hair. He was bald. That was a feature she never seen before.

"My Lord and Lady," spoke the announcer of the palace. "May I present you Soul Reaper, Ikkaku Madarame of Squad 11, Third Seat to Captain Kenpachi Zaraki."

"Quite the long title," replied Esmeralda's mother.

"It's only proper for you to have my full title since I'll be staying here a bit." His eyes scanned over the Princess. "You must be the Princess. It's a pleasure to meet you."

He wasn't pleased to meet her. He didn't like being there, but seeing her charming face, he did have to admit one thing, at least he wasn't 'babysitting' someone who was ugly. She was quite attractive looking.

"Ikkaku, meet Princess Esmeralda, you will be protecting her for the next three weeks. Tomorrow is when you will start," her father began.

"And how long will I be in your services?" Ikkaku might not have liked this assignment, but he was going to do his best to remain passive about it and not make a fuss. Chances are if he did, there would be hell to pay when he got back and that was something even worse he didn't want to do deal with.

"The negotiations will be lasting for three weeks in hopes of a 'cease fire'," replied the Lord.

His eyes widened. Three weeks!? He wasn't expecting to be that long. Keeping himself in check, he looked to the King. "I wasn't exactly told the full reason in why I'm to be her bodyguard," Ikkaku said.

"While the delegations are happening, you will take our daughter and protect her. She will not remain here in the Palace and you both will leave first thing in the morning. Last week we were under siege and someone tried to take our daughter," her father explained.

Esmeralda stomped her foot. "Will you stop talking to me like I'm not in the room!" she snapped. There went her fiery temper again. Both her parents had hoped she wouldn't lose her cool.

Ikkaku looked to her. "I apologize," he replied, forcing his own temper back. "But there are things I must discuss."

"Well it's a bit rude," she said, calming down slightly. "But fine. Father told me the reason why you were coming and you're to protect me to be sure the counsel who comes doesn't try and take this time to use to their advantage and abduct me."

"That is a logical reason," he agreed. "You are a Princess, heir to the land. What better way to conquer the land by taking the heir hostage and use them for ransom."

Esmeralda's jaw slightly dropped. Not only was the man slightly handsome and never seen a bald man before but he was also smart too. She wasn't giving the Soul Reapers a lot of credit because they weren't of royal blood. Perhaps this man could change her opinion on them.

She took a step forward. "Ikkaku," she said, tone channelled differently, showing her gentle side once again. "Since we're going to be seeing each other for the next three weeks perhaps we should get to know one another better. This way here you will know what not to say to piss me off."

"Esmeralda…" her mother warned.

The Princess turned to her mother. "Mother, you seriously can't just stand here and think I'll take all this sitting down?" she asked, that defiance attitude returning quickly enough. "I'm not a child and I told you I don't want to be treated as such."

"That does it," Ikkaku said harshly. "Lady, I haven't been here five minutes and you're doing nothing but complaining."

Ikkaku's words brought all three monarchs to his attention. They looked at him, stunned by his sudden outburst. They hired him and shouldn't be treated this way. Esmeralda's father opened his mouth to speak but Ikkaku cut him off before able to say a peep.

"I came here to protect you and that's just what I'm going to do. I'm not going to give you special treatment just because you're a Princess. That just isn't my style. I'm a member of Squad 11 and my Squad are all about fighting and being the best at being a fighter."

Esmeralda blinked several times before a grin formed on her face. "Finally! Someone who doesn't want to treat me like I'm a piece of gold that needs to be placed on a mantel."

"Listen here!" her father finally barked. "No daughter of mine will be treated improper, not when she's the crown ruler of this land and you don't even belong here. Your superiors will hear of this!"

Esmeralda's eyes widened. She moved away from her father, getting up in front of Ikkaku. "You will do no such thing! He's going to treat me like a regular Soul Society being! And that's what I want!"

"I can fight my own battles," Ikkaku hissed in her ear.

"I don't care if you can or not," she hissed back to him. "But this is my affair with those two so you stay out of it. You're to protect me from predators not my own parents."

He hissed once again but knew she was right. What was going on between the three wasn't his problem. In fact he didn't want to deal with the problem at all. But he also didn't want to be in the room and that there laid a problem but for the moment there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"Esmeralda, what is the meaning of this outrage?" demanded her mother.

"The fact that you guys won't hear me out when I say 'I'm not a child anymore'. Nor am I something you can just keep on a mantel and be prim and proper. The rest of the Soul Society have come in the times but our land still likes to live in the past. And I'm sick of it. When I become Queen of this land one of the first things I'm going to do decree is no more of the old traditions!"

"You can't do that!" her father snapped.

"Oh? Watch me. When my time to become Queen will happen, you will see. And until then, this man has been hired by you to protect me and that's just what he will do. And you already know I don't even like it."

"Well guess we have something in common then because I don't want to be here either," Ikkaku finally added.

She turned to Ikkaku. "Then I guess we have an understanding towards each other then. Don't we?" She looked past the bald man. Taking a nod of her head towards the guard at the door. "Why don't you help him get settled into his room?"

"Yes milady," the guard said as he stepped away from the door. He looked at Ikkaku. "Come with me and I shall show you to your room, which you'll be beside Princess Esmeralda."

Ikkaku blinked several times before quietly grumbling to himself. "I need a bottle of Sake."

Esmeralda looked to him, hearing his muttered words. "When you're done, show him to where the bars are."

That got his attention. "Bars!? You guys have drinks here?" He stopped to look at the Princess.

She giggled. "Of course. This is a vast size land. I think people would go nuts without being able to get some good drinks. And we have a wide variety to choose from as well."

"Sounds good." This seemed to perk Ikkaku's mood a bit.

Esmeralda sighed as she watched Ikkaku turn back to the guard, leaving with him to see to his room and get settled in for the three week long stay. He still had a feeling it was going to be hell, but not for the same reasons he thought of first. Now he was thinking it was going to be hell with having to deal with her parents not liking his attitude. Before it was because of not liking his charge. But he did have to admit her beauty was quite attractive and her elf ears were nothing like he ever saw before.

The second he was gone, Esmeralda turned back to her parents, planting her hands on her hips. "You did say I should start acting responsible and taking commands. Well I'm taking your advice. Hope you're happy with yourself. Now if you'll excuse me, it's getting rather crowded in here."

Her mother was completely stunned by this but her father; it was very easy to see he was upset with her. But she was right. She wasn't a little girl anymore. She was 500 years old.

Before giving her parents a chance to say anything, she turned away, leaving the throne room, going straight to her room to fume by herself like she often did. This wasn't fair. She was still angry at having a babysitter but now she learnt he was attractive and had an attitude too. That meant the two were going to clash and that was something she wasn't going to like one bit.

Esmeralda ignored her father's yell as she left, heading straight up the stairs that were near the throne room. She didn't bother stopping until reaching her room where she slammed the door shut just as Ikkaku opened his door to see what was the noise.

"What the hell is eating her?" he asked.

The guard who showed him to his room was still standing outside his door, making sure everything was to his satisfactory, shrugged. "Just her usual tantrum when she has a verbal argument with her father."

"Sounds more than a tantrum if she can be heard all the way down the hall."

"It's her shoes, she wears. Unlike in the Seireitei, here, you're required to wear shoes at all times and hers are heels, which often make a lot of noise."

Ikkaku looked at the footwear he was now wearing, which he was forced to wear upon arriving until his normal sandals were cleaned up. "So that explains these annoying things." What he wore was similar to his standard sandal, which went with his uniform. But to him they were extremely uncomfortable.

The guard looked at his shoes. "I have seen Soul Reapers in my days but never saw one without tabi socks."

Ikkaku's eyes narrowed and gave the man a death glare. "You got a problem with how I dress?"

The guard stepped back. "I have no problems, I'm just saying…"

"Well keep your opinions yourself," Ikkaku snapped. He turned back towards his room. "Oh and I don't need anything more. I'll get a drink later. Now leave me alone, unless you want to fight. I live for fights." With that Ikkaku closed his door, leaving the guard stunned.

The next morning as directed by the Lord, Ikkaku was up bright and early even though he spent a few hours drinking his annoyance away. Only thing that annoyed him more was he had no one to drink not even Lieutenant Iba or Yumichika. He was completely alone with this problem. However, even though he was up early, Esmeralda hated being woken up and really didn't want to get up.

Stepping out of his room, he looked to Esmeralda's and could hear muffled noises from inside. Going to the door to listen, he could hear a female servant saying for the Princess to get up but she wouldn't and would say she'd get up when she wanted to. This was not what Ikkaku wanted to hear first thing in the morning.

With a good push on the door, he marched straight over to the woman's bed. He never paid no attention to the servant who jumped and then tried to say something. He yanked the blankets off her body not caring to what she was wearing.

"Get your ass out of bed!" he snapped. "We have to get out of here as soon as possible and I'm not going to pamper to you! You want to be treated like a person, then here you go!"

"HEY!" she screamed, jumped up from the mattress. "I WAS SLEEPING!"

"Not anymore you're not!" he yelled back. "Now get the hell dressed. We're out of here."

"You're not the boss of me!"

Ikkaku moved faster than she thought was ever possible. "I'm your damn bodyguard," he said evenly.

Esmeralda gasped, suddenly lost her voice at his sudden movement and he was right up in her face, invading her personal space. But from his movement in being so fast she couldn't see him, prevented her from forming a word or continuing to be mad at him.

"I don't give a rats ass if you like how I do things or not. But we were told we had to be out of here first thing this morning. It's now morning and we have to leave. I drank last night and still managed to get up."

"I…ah…uh…" she was completely flabbergasted by his words.

"Milady, I did try to get you up…" the servant said quietly, finding her own voice from witnessing Ikkaku's outburst.

"If it weren't for your damn stubbornness with her, I wouldn't be in here right now. Now move it!"

That got her attention. Her anger returned ten fold. "Don't tell me what to do!"

"Don't give me a reason you spoiled brat!" He moved away from her. "You have five minutes to get dressed or we're leaving with how you're dressed." He paused, taking note what she was wearing was nothing like anything he'd seen. Where he lived everyone wore sleeping yukatas. She was wearing something more revealing and he could see her cleavage quite well. "But I highly recommend in changing or you'll have everyone in town staring at you."

She gawked before looking down, seeing he could see the top of her breasts. "GET OUT!" she screamed grabbing the nearest thing she could and covered up her breasts better. "You pervert!"

"No, but I do know a few of those," Ikkaku commented as he turned away, leaving the room so the servant could help the brat get dressed.

Ikkaku waited just outside her room with a bag of his own belongings over his shoulder. He had dropped just outside her door when he decided to barge in. Soon enough she exited the room wearing a traveller's set of clothes consisting of pants and a tunic. She had pulled her hair back into a sloppy ponytail. The very second in seeing him she gave him the death glare.

"Let's go," he announced.

"Wait! What about breakfast!?" she snapped. "I need my food!"

"We can get a grab and go breakfast. This is no time for lap of luxury," he commanded. He then rolled his eyes. "Man Captain Kuchiki isn't this stubborn and he can be a hard ass."

"Who?!" she asked rudely.

"Captain Kuchiki is the Captain of Squad 6 and he happens to be a high noble in one of the four great Noble Houses in the Seireitei. And he can be hardball. But he's not as bad as you. He will do his duty without questions asked."

"Well I'm not him!" she hissed.

"That's very obvious," he answered, referring to the fact she had a chest and was female.

"Why you…" she started.

Ikkaku ignored her as he began to make his way to the main floor where he would stop at the kitchen where the two could get a quick bite to eat and then be on their way. This day was literally not starting out the way he thought it would. Already he was fighting with her, but it was her fault for not getting up when she was supposed to. And he knew this day was just going to get worse. He could feel it building. He was beginning to wish Yachiru were with him calling him baldy. At least hearing her annoying cheerful voice was better than listening to the Princess bitch. She sounded worse than a woman on PMS and that was bad.


	2. Part 2

**Forbidden Love**  
**Part 2**

For the first two hours neither one said a word to one another as they travelled away from the Palace. When Ikkaku was traveling towards the North District Land, he came upon an old wooden house. To him it was a perfect place to protect her. No delegates would think a Princess would be taken to some old run down house in the middle of nowhere. To get to the house, however, would take nearly a day's journey. However, outside the North District, was Hollow territory. Well not really Hollow territory, but Hollows were known to roam the parts between the Rukon District and other lands where many birth born citizens lived.

Getting tired of the walking, Esmeralda groaned. "When are we going to stop?" she snapped.

He snorted. "Just like a Princess to bitch." He stopped and turned to her. "We have to be careful between the Rukongai and your kingdom there has been known to have Hollow sightings." He stared at her for a moment before turning to look at the staff she carried. Her staff was golden in color with two 's' shaped sides, which were connected by a blue crystal at the top. Below the crystal was a large ruby. He had no idea why she was bringing it with her and would only tell him she had to and that was that.

"Then why the hell are you bringing me out here!?" she yelled, getting frustrated. He might have been attractive but his attitude was just like hers when rubbed the wrong way. If only they had met under different circumstances perhaps then she wouldn't be a bitch to him. She did demand not to be treated as a Princess and that was exactly what Ikkaku was doing.

"You know, I'm getting tired of your attitude. You're worse than me!" He growled. "And for your information we are out here because handling Hollows is what I live for. And no one will think to look for you out here in the wilderness." Ikkaku then blinked, realizing what he just said. Turning away from her, his eyes focused on a tree nearby. "Fine. We'll stop here for a rest."

"Thank you," she said, giving an unfriendly smile. She had a feeling he just admitted something he didn't want to admit. Well if he could admit to having a sour attitude, then she could 'suck it up' and cooperate a bit better. "I am still pissed at you for yanking the blankets off me."

"Then next time when someone says get up, you get up," he answered roughly. "I'm not here to cater to your will nor am I going to treat you any differently then I do my own men who serve under me. You even said yesterday you wanted to be treated normal. So you better get used to it."

She scrunched up her face in a sour look before doing something very childish. She stuck her tongue out at him just at the same moment he turned back to her.

"Unless you're planning to use the tongue, I wouldn't stick it out if I were you," he retorted.

Her jaw dropped, completely catching his hidden meaning. He was referring to kissing with using tongues, which to humans it was called 'French kissing', though no Soul Reaper really knew why it was called that.

Folding her arms, she stuck her nose up in the air, turning away from him. She walked over to the nearest large rock, taking a seat. "Jerk," she muttered to herself. But she did have to admit one thing. He was quite handsome when he was angry. She began to wonder what he was like when he was fighting. He kept saying he lived to fight. She wasn't exactly sure on exactly what he meant by that, but she was sure to eventually find out.

Ikkaku watched her move away from him, taking a seat. He couldn't help himself in admiring her looks and how her hips swayed with every step. All the women in the Seireitei wore uniforms and none really showed off a woman's figure, however Rangiku was able to show her chestly assets very well. How she was able to get away with it was beyond him. But then again he and Captain of Squad 8 never wore the tabi socks.

"You're staring at me," she growled, noting he was looking at her, though she was looking at him too, but keeping it well discreet.

From the angle she was sitting, he couldn't tell she was looking at him but he was able to feel her eyes on him. "Practice what you preach. I may not be able to see you looking at me, but I can sense it."

Her head lifted up. "Can't you just lay off!" she yelled suddenly.

"I will once you do," Ikkaku challenged. "I'm the one who was hired to protect you and I have to watch you just in case of trouble. You don't like it, tough. Life is tough out here and on my way here, I found an old house we'll stay at. It hasn't been used for some time, which will be the perfect cover."

"An old house?" All color drained from Esmeralda's face. She was going to have to spend three weeks with this arrogant ass in an old house… that meant no running water. It was a good thing she brought her own bathing supplies or she'd really have a fit.

"That's right, an old house," he repeated. "No running water. We'll have to make our own meals and use the bushes to go to the bathroom and if you want to bath, well you'll just have to rough it and take cold baths in the river, which is nearby and wash your clothes as well."

It was a good thing Esmeralda was sitting on the rock or she would have been on the ground, doing a face plant. Her feet slightly slid, nearly making her go on her ass to the ground, but she was able to stop herself from falling. "You're…joking…" she stuttered.

"Not a single word," he smirked. Ha! This was a good kick in the teeth for her. She wanted to be treated like a person, now she will see what it's like to actually live like one. "I lived in the Rukongai for a long time before getting enough spirit energy to become a Soul Reaper. So having to spend three weeks roughing it, is going to be fun."

"Fun!?" Her face then turned red with anger. "Fun!?" she yelled again. "This is not going to be fun! It's going to be hell! You're taking me back right now!" She got up to start making her way back the way they came.

Faster than humanly possible, Ikkaku was behind her, grabbing her arm, forcing her back against his solid body. "No, I don't think so," he said quietly in her pointy ear. "The idea in protecting you, is taking you out of your comfort zone. Besides protecting you isn't going to be fun at all. I would rather be at home, pestering some poor Squad 4 member into doing my laundry, but instead I'm out here with you."

Her breath hitched into her throat at feeling him so close and hearing him talk so close to her ear, forced her eyes to close. He had no idea how sensitive Elf ears were and it was actually a turn on. And hearing him speak so deeply yet quietly in her ear was causing her belly to do flip-flops.

"I do have good hearing you know," she said, taking a shaky breath.

"Oh really?" Holding her arm, he could feel her body tremble from the closeness. "Do I make you nervous?" he asked suddenly. "Or does my good looks?" He had a feeling her eyes kept looking at him because he was attractive looking.

Her mouth went dry just then, not sure how to respond. One thing was for sure; he knew she thought he was good looking. But how did he know?

Slightly turning her head, she was able to glance at him from the side. She took a few deep breaths. "What do you care?" she hissed quietly, not wanting to reveal her true feelings of the situation, which was she was extremely tense.

"I don't." His hold loosened, slowly releasing her. He then backed away as his body tensed. His look took on a serious expression. "Esmeralda, slowly grab your bag and lets go."

She blinked. "What? Why?" She swiftly turned to him, getting ready to give him a peace of her mind when her entire body froze. She could hear sounds in the distance and they were getting closer and the sounds resembled that of rumbling.

"Just do it," he answered. "Don't argue with me on this. I believe there's a Hollow in the vicinity. Lower your reiatsu as best as you can to minimal." He gripped his sword, pulling out the blade, holding it in one hand while he held the scabbard in the other.

Seeing him get into a fighting stance, she knew now wasn't the time to argue. This was what he was there for. And though he brought her out into dangerous territory with Hollows lurking about, he did know how to fight them, as he was a Soul Reaper.

Doing as he said, she carefully grabbed her bag, lowering her reiatsu as she went. As she just wrapped the bag around her arms, the sound of a Hollow cry alerted the both of them.

Ikkaku grinned. "Sooner than I thought. This should be fun and easy. Esmeralda whatever you do, just stay back and keep your reiatsu as low as you possibly can. The Hollow won't touch you if you keep it low."

"Wh…what are you going to do?" she frightenly asked.

"Going to play a little," he replied. "Rising my reiatsu should keep it away from you. Now step back."

Looking behind her, she took several steps back just as the Hollow broke through the trees. It looked like a large snake with a mask of a dragon skull. The eyes glowed malicious red as it stared down at Ikkaku.

"Soul Reaper…" it breathed harshly. "Time for a meal."

Ikkaku frowned. "I'd like to see you try! Lets go! AHHHHHHHH!" he shouted as he decided to take the offence first and attack. He wasn't the type to sit back and wait to be attacked. It's either kill or be killed and he rather kill.

Ikkaku jumped into the air high enough to be able to pull his sword up as if he was getting ready to slice the snake Hollow in half. But as the blade went down, nearly hitting Hollow flesh, it slithered, dodging the attack. Ikkaku landed on the ground.

"Not bad!" he called out. "You may just make this more interesting than I anticipated!"

"You're a fool to think you can stop me Soul Reaper!"

"Ikkaku!" Esmeralda shouted.

"Stay back!" he shouted back to her, not bothering to remove his eyes off the beast before him. He then jumped into the air once again, getting ready to do the same attack again but this time, Ikkaku predicted the beast's movement and as the beast moved to the left to dodge, Ikkaku brought down his hand holding the scabbard and hit the beast's body.

The beast gave a Hollow cry once again as a shot of pain went around the hit. This Soul Reaper was cleaver. Using his Zanpakuto to attack only to counter using his scabbard instead. This Soul Reaper was not no mere Soul Reaper he could kill for the hell of it. This one had strong power. The beast brought out the rest of his body, showing his body narrowing as the end drew near, just like a real snake.

Ikkaku's eyes widened. "So that's how you want to play eh? I guess two can play that." Bringing the back end of the hilt, he slammed it against the scabbard. "Extend! Houzukimaru!" The two combined together creating a naginata with a wax wood shaft. At the very end of the shaft had a tassel of red horsehair. "Let's go you ugly worm!"

The Hollow laughed looking at the shikai state of the Zanpakuto. "Not even a kido power, you must really be pathetic."

Ikkaku's grin vanished. "What did you just say?" he hissed.

"You heard me."

Esmeralda wasn't sure what to think through all of this. She just watched for the first time as a sword was transformed into another weapon. This was completely all new to her. But what more frightened her was seeing the monster taunt Ikkaku.

This was no longer fun. "I'm going to cut you down faster than you can even muster another cry!" he growled. "Prepare to die!"

"You think that will scare me Soul Reaper?" The Hollow taunted once again as he went to swing his tail once more.

Ikkaku jumped out of the way, landing his Zanpakuto into the tail.

The beast gave a new kind of Hollow cry and was now furious. This was not what he was expecting.

"Good I made you angry!" Ikkaku grinned once again.

Esmeralda couldn't believe this guy. One minute he was happy to fight then the next was pissed now he was happy again. What gives? One thing she did figure out, this guy was a good fighter. She continued to surpress her spirit energy, not wanting to draw attention to herself.

Enraged by the Soul Reaper, The Hollow's tail broke open into two. Ikkaku, thinking this was no problem, didn't realize in what was about to happen. The Hollow then swung his tail around, expecing Ikkaku to dodge, which he did easily and that gave him the edge. Once Ikkaku dodged, the tail then started to close in, surrounding the Squad 11 fighter.

"Ikkaku!" Esmeralda screamed again as the tail of the beast began to close around Ikkaku like a mouth.

"How are you going to get out of this?" sneered the Hollow.

Ikkaku's eyes were scanning from one side to the other. "Like this! Split! Houzukimaru!" Just then Ikkaku fired out his Zanpakuto as if to stab the beast, but the call of the command, the staff split into three parts, each one attached by a chain. It then curled around, blade aiming straight at the backside of the Hollow. The Hollow never saw the attack coming as the blade ran through the backside.

Just before the tail could fully close in on Ikkaku, his grin widened as he pushed forward on his Zanpakuto, pushing the blade further in. The Hollow gave a new dignify cry before suddenly vanishing from sight. The spirit of the Hollow disbursing like dust.

Esmeralda gasped as the beast disappeared. She came out from behind the rock she hid behind. "You did it!"

Ikkaku looked from where he was almost snake food to the woman he was protecting. He gave a few heavy pants as his staff straightened and then he released the shikai, sheathing his weapon once more. "That was a slight work out," he grinned.

Esmeralda blinked. "Slight work out? You nearly got hurt!"

"Occupational hazard," he replied. "Being a Soul Reaper is a risky job but the rewards of being one are great. Now, why don't we get moving before any more Hollows finds us?"

"Good idea." She clenched her bag tighter to her as she allowed him to lead the way.

* * *

It had to be late in the day considering the sun was starting to give a golden hue as it neared the horizon. Four times during the day, the two had stopped for a break. The longest break was when they stopped for some lunch. It probably was now getting close to evening mealtime.

"How much further?" she asked.

He stopped, turning to her. "It's just up there," he pointed.

She followed his finger, making out a small structure. "You seriously can't force me to stay in there."

"Oh?" He turned his full body around to look at her. "And what are you going to do to stop me? You know between your Kingdom and the Rukongai Hollows could appear so you wouldn't really be safe on your own."

In the distance a sound of what sounded like a Hollow filled the air. Esmeralda's eyes widened before she picked up her feet and ran the rest of the way to the old house.

Ikkaku looked quite astonished by her sudden change in attitude. What could have frightened her? He then remembered she had better hearing than him and could hear sounds in the distance. He lightly laughed as he made his way towards the house.

"You do realize that sound you heard, which my guess would be a Hollow, was quite some distance away since I didn't hear it," he said as he approached her.

"Well excuse me for having good ears!" she yelled. She looked at the old run down house. "Now what?"

"Now, you might as well make yourself comfortable for the next three weeks," he answered as he stepped into the house. "While I work on making this house a little more safe to sleep in. There's a storm brewing, I can smell it. So I don't have much time."

"A storm?" she blinked. She looked to the sky. "A see blue skies."

"Having been a Soul Reaper for as long as I have, one picks up on weather patterns. Sometime after it's dark, it will start raining."

"Yeah right," she retorted. "You can't predict the weather."

"Fine, have it your way. Just don't come complaining to me when it starts raining." He took a sniff in the air. "I believe it might be a thunderstorm. Hope you're not scared of thunder."

"No! I'm not afraid of storms. I love them. I love how the sky likes to erupt in a flash of white light followed by a roll of thunder to go with it."

Ikkaku rolled his eyes. "Women… always have to describe things. It's annoying," he said under his breath as he went into the house to see what he could do to fix up the place before the storm landed.

Not believing him, Esmeralda remained outside the house, not wanting to go in there. She didn't care for his threats, didn't believe there was a storm wasn't going to phase her in the least. As boredom slammed into her, now that they weren't walking, she began to get hungry. Remembering a survival course she was forced to take years ago, she decided to create a fire and cook something. Ikkaku did bring some food with them from the kitchen of the palace and it had to be eaten before the day was out.

Ikkaku soon stepped out of the house only to see a surprise before him. The Princess was cooking the last of the supplies he brought.

"You can cook!?" he blurted dumbfounded.

Seeing his stunned look, Esmeralda grinned. For once she was able to stump the man before her. "What? Surprised? I may be a Princess but I was taught years ago probably before you ever joined the academy or learnt how to live in the Rukon. I just don't like to practice it, but will use it if the situation rises."

Now this was something Ikkaku actually liked. He wasn't going to have to provide her meals all the time. Oh he'd probably have to hunt down an animal or something, but at least he wouldn't have to hunt, clean and cook every time. She can actually help out.

"Would you like some?" she asked, not paying attention to the sky. Far off in the distance the sky was beginning to grow dark with clouds, but it would be well after dark when the storm would hit.

"I suppose I could take a break and have something to eat," he sighed. "Thank you for offering." If she was willing to cook, he could be a bit nicer and use his manners. It was a good thing no one from Squad 11 was around or they'd call him nuts for using mannerism.

Using some large leaves from a nearby tree, Esmeralda placed what she cooked onto it and carefully handed it to him. "It's not the best I can cook since we're here outside but I'm sure…"

"It will be fine," he answered. "Try living in a village where people don't even get hungry and you have to do everything yourself."

"I can't imagine what that would have been like," she said as she served herself up some food as well.

"But it was freedom," he continued. "Not having anyone tell you what to do. Though did have to deal with the other low lives there."

The two ate silently as the storm continued to slowly close in on them. Esmeralda was completely oblivious of the coming storm but Ikkaku kept looking back at it. When the two were done eating, he quietly stood up and continued working on the house.

Just after it became dark, Ikkaku finished. "Well that's done. Everything is ready. You going to come inside?" he asked.

"No! I refuse to go inside that run down shack." Where it was now dark, she could not see the dark clouds were now overhead.

"Suit yourself then," he commented. "But just remember I did ask and you refused and refused to listen too."

He went into the house, clearing himself a spot to lay his bedroll so he could get some rest. He had a feeling she would eventually go into the house, once it started raining.

Esmeralda wasn't outside by herself long when the rain began. She groaned as the rain began to beat down on her. She would soon get wet. A flash of lightning lit the sky followed by a rumble seconds later. "Bastard…" she growled. She quickly grabbed her things and ran inside.

She wasn't in the door two seconds before Ikkaku looked up from turning on a small light, which drew power from the reiatsu all around them. "It would seem you're a bit wet."

"It would seem you see correctly," she retorted.

He smirked, as he couldn't help himself. "Perhaps next time you'll listen when I tell you something is about to happen."

"Will you just lay off!" she snapped, anger flaring up again. She turned away from him, intending to lay far away from him with her own bedroll, but just as she turned her eyes fell upon a large web with a spider.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed in complete terror, falling backwards.

"What the hell!?" he yelled as he jumped up, ready for action just as she stumbled into his solid body.

"Get those things away from me!" she screamed, trying to push herself further away, not realizing her body was tightly against Ikkaku's.

He looked to where she had jumped from only to see the insect. "What! You're completely scared of a tiny insect. You're nuts!" His hands were unconsciously wrapped around her shoulders, trying to prevent her from knocking him over.

"It's just a damn harmless spider!" he growled as he pushed her aside going over to the web before whacking it with the sheath of his sword, killing it. He turned back to her. "You'll freak over an eight-legged creature that's smaller than your hand and yet you'll freeze in terror over a Hollow. You need to get your priorities straight."

She was visibly shaking as anger flared up again. "You try falling into a pit of them when you're little and see how you feel!"

Ikkaku blinked, his own hyperness dropping. "Why would you fall into a pit of insects?"

"Do you think I wanted to?" she snapped. "You already know my family has been at war with another land for a long time. That pit was one of many traps the enemy had set up but now since word of Sosuke Aizen has left the Soul Society the vindictive plots have ceased and they have called for a cease fire."

Too nervous about moving to another spot of the house, she dropped her things right where she was and carefully unrolled her bedroll. She then took a seat, curling up with her knees against her chest. Ikkaku moved back over to his bedroll, watching her.

"You had a life of freedom and I had a life of being controlled," she said suddenly out of the blue. "From the time I was little, I always was told where to go and how to do it. Never was able to do things on my own and for that, I developed my bitchy attitude. What I wouldn't give to live free."

"Sometimes living free is hard," he replied wondering where this was suddenly coming from. "When one lives free, they have no morals to live by. No sense of a conscience."

She snorted. "But at least you wouldn't have someone telling you what to do all the time." She quickly turned her back to him, removing her tunic.

"Hey! Wait! What are you doing!?" he blurted.

Ignoring him, she continued to remove her tunic until her back was revealed, showing strange looking symbols. "And being free wouldn't require having this tattooed on your back at the age of three."

His eyes widened, looking at the symbols. "Is that what I think that is?" he gasped.

"The formula to make the doorway to Hueco Mundo, yes," she replied solemnly. "The enemy has been after that for ages. You see Sosuke Aizen once visited here, telling the family that if they wish to live, they would stay out of the affairs of what would happen to the Seireitei. In exchanged, he gave the family the secrets to entering Heuco Mundo. In time the neighbouring land learnt of the trade and wanted to take the secrets for themselves. Aizen entrusted the family with this secret and they vowed to protect it with their lives or the entire Kingdom would be destroyed."

"Head Captain Yamamoto should…"

"No!" she interrupted him as she reclothed herself and turned back around. "Just because Aizen isn't here anymore doesn't mean we're safe from him. One of his followers still comes here from time to time to check things out. One was just here several hours before you arrived, making sure the secret is still safe."

"Are you serious!?" Ikkaku couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Very," she answered coldly. "You see when I was just a baby, the neighbouring land learnt we had the ability to travel to Heuco Mundo and that's when the war began. They are trying to wipe us out for knowing these secrets. At that time, they did steal something from my parents and it was then it was made abundantly clear the rest of the secrets had to remain safe, which is why the markings on my back. I am the only source to those secrets now while everything else was destroyed."

This was more than what Ikkaku was expecting to hear. And this was the whole reason someone from the Seireitei was requested to handle this job. He was protecting her because of the secrets her body possessed. This was beyond words for him to say. He was sure even Captain Zaraki would be shocked about this.

"This is why I want to be free," she said. "I would have that removed."

His mind was reeling over what she had said. Holding up a hand he sighed. "Wait a minute. You just said the enemy stole some of these secrets. What were those?"

"The ability to control Hollows," she answered.

"Damn!" he cursed. "That means…" he didn't want to finish that line. Bringing her to the beat up house was probably actually the best plan. He didn't need to be told the enemy was after her for the secrets and it's that reason why he was hired. And taking her away from the Kingdom actually helped the land to be protected.

Esmeralda could see the conflicting emotions on Ikkaku's face. The reactions were brief but she was able to pick up on everything. She hadn't been around for 500 years for nothing. She could see anger, sadness, confusion and most importantly urgency.

"Ikkaku, is everything alright?" she asked.

Shaking his head of the troubling thoughts, he turned away to look at the light he lit a bit ago. "I'm fine. Nothing you have to concern yourself over." Deciding he had enough surprising information for one day, he pulled off his shoes, crawling onto his bedroll. "Just do what you can to go to sleep. There's nothing more to do until morning when the storm is over." He turned over, back facing her.

Fuming once again, she quickly gave him the finger.

"Is that finger supposed to do something?" he asked suddenly.

She gawked, surprised. How did he know? "How do you know what I just did?" she hissed.

"Because I'm going back to ignoring you and I know how infuriating that is for you."

"Jerk!" she yelled.

Removing her shoes, she knew there was nothing better to do but do the same as Ikkaku. She crawled into her bedroll, pulling the cover over herself. She could hear the rain hitting the roof as if it was trying to destroy the roof. She had no idea the storm was going to be that bad. It was a good thing she got in when she did or probably ten seconds later she would have been soaked to the bone.

This also was going to be a long night for her. Ikkaku was ignoring her again and she knew where there was one spider, there was bound to be others and that alone frightened her. But there was nothing else she could do. Hopefully those spiders would stay away. But then again seeing Ikkaku squish the other one kinda was interesting to see. It didn't bother him in the least. Turning, she too faced her back to Ikkaku, continuing to listen to the rain. Allowing the sounds from outside to lure her to sleep.


	3. Part 3

**Forbidden Love**  
**Part 3**

With the morning light after the storm came a sight one thought he'd never see or thought to ever believe. Somehow during the night, Esmeralda squirmed her way to be sleeping next to Ikkaku. But as he woke, before she did, he was given the shocker of his life. She was snuggled tight against his body and his arm was around her. Slightly startled by this, he swiftly moved his arm away from her and jumped up, which caused her to stir. Her eyes groggily opened, not realizing what just happened.

"What's going on?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

He blinked several times, standing several feet away from her, gawking. Didn't she know? Didn't she feel his arm around her? Shaking his head, his eyes narrowed.

"Nothing," he grumbled. "When I went to sleep you were further away." That was half the truth.

Esmeralda looked at him with a blank look for several moments before remembering. Sometime during the night she woke to a creepy feeling. She had remembered freaking out over the spider and just 'knew' there was more somewhere. At first, she thought she'd be able to handle it, but it nagged at her too much. Not liking the idea, she decided to get up and pulled her bedroll closer to him. Once closer to him, she was quick to fall back to sleep and never felt when his arm wrapped around her, pulling her tight to his body. She had no idea his arm was just around her seconds ago.

"Well excuse me for trying to be a little warmer," she said with sarcasm. "Since you are protecting me, it's also your job to be sure I stay warm as well." That was a full bull face lie, but he didn't need to know that.

"What!?" he gasped. This was not his morning and he hadn't been awake five minutes and already she's notifying him in what his job requires doing. "I'm not even awake five minutes and you spring this on me!?"

Not knowing why but she found the situation was a bit humorous. She brought a hand to her mouth, stifling her giggles.

"Are you laughing at me!?" he growled, hearing the muffled giggles.

"Maybe," she giggled. She then sobered up. "Come on Ikkaku, you got to live a little. Can't be an old stick in the mud sour puss all the time."

"I'm not a sour puss!" he yelled, getting angrier by the second. He could see the more he got mad the funnier she thought it was.

"If you can get away in calling me a selfish brat or bitch, which ever your mind keeps coming up with, then I can call you a sour puss," she challenged.

His mouth fell open, no longer able to throw something back at her. One thing he had to admit though she was not only good-looking but also quite good with her mouth. She'd literally fit well in with Squad 11, if she were a Soul Reaper.

He turned his back to her finally, crossing his arms across his chest. "Now that it's day time, we have to clean up this place and make it look more liveable. We are here for three weeks and you better make the best of it." He swiftly turned back to her, pointing to her. "And I don't want to hear one word about your damn fear of spiders! Got that!?"

"Hey!" she yelled, humor gone, dropped like a hat. "How would you feel if you were faced with something you're scared of?"

"Wouldn't know," he retorted. "I'm not scared of nothing. Not even dying. So nothing like that would faze me. But I would suggest you either conquer your fear really fast or just learn to tolerate it for the next couple weeks while we're here."

"But…I…" she started but stopped when the feeling of having to go called to her. Her eyes widened in sudden horror. There was no bathroom out here.

"What now!?" he growled, seeing her look of horror.

She squeezed her legs, trying to hold it in. "I have to go to the bathroom," she replied quietly.

His eyes widened before he smiled. "This is too cute. You have to go to the bathroom. Well guess there is only one thing you can do, go outside and use the bushes like the rest of the society does who are not wealthy enough to have indoor plumbing."

"NO!" she shouted. "You can't expect me to do that! I'm a royal! Royals don't use the bushes!"

"I don't give a rats ass if you were the crown heir of the Soul Society!" he yelled back. "This is not the royal palace and you will do what you have to do to survive. You told me the other day you don't want to be treated like a royal!"

Realizing he was speaking the truth on that, she gave a deep sigh. She carefully stood from her bedroll, heading towards the door to go do her business. She went around the house and squatted down, after removing what she needed to do her business. When she was done, she made sure to clean up good before redressing and returned back to the front of the house.

Ikkaku was leaning against the house, arms crossed, waiting for her. He looked up as she came around the corner. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"I'm completely filthy," she hissed, marching straight over to the stream where she washed her hands.

Ikkaku moved away from the wall, following her. "If you were a man, then you'd just have to just stand and let it go," he smirked, knowing that would get her goat. He didn't really know why but he found her even more attractive when she was arguing with him and now he was provoking her.

Having quite enough of his insults towards her, she swiftly turned around, hand raised, swinging around to slap him right up side of his smirking face. In a blink of an eye, his hand snatched out, catching her hand in mid swing, at the wrist.

"Don't even try it," he said evenly. "If you can't take some harmless joking around, then what's the point of talking to one another? We are trapped together whether we like it or not."

She gasped, feeling his calloused hand against her wrist. She already saw him fight, but she had no idea he could counter so quickly. "Let go!" she demanded.

Ikkaku was about to snap another remark when he felt something approaching. His body stiffened. "Esmeralda? You hear that?"

"What? Don't change…" she stopped when a distance sound filled her ears. Her eyes widened. "A Hollow?"

"I think so. And this one is large," he said releasing her wrist. "And there's no time for breakfast right now."

"What are we going to do?" she asked suddenly.

"We?" he blinked. "We aren't going to do anything. You are going into that house and remain there while I deal with this. You will also lower your reiatsu to not be noticed by the Hollow."

"What?! No! I'm not going to hide away like some child!" she defended.

Ikkaku sighed, grabbing both of her upper arms. "I'm hired to protect you right?" he questioned.

She looked straight into his eyes. "Yes…" She didn't like how he was holding her but this time his grip was feeling out of concern.

"Then do me this favor and not argue on the matter. The Hollow that is approaching, I can sense it's strong, stronger than the one from yesterday. Hollows in this area would just love to take you either a hostage or consume you and make you one of them. Not to mention you have the key to Hueco Mundo."

"Why would they do that?" she asked, beginning to understand what Hollows are all about. She had heard stories but never leaving the kingdom, she didn't know a lot of the 'real' world of the Soul Society.

"That's what Hollows do. That's there purpose. Every Hollow out there was either once a Soul Reaper themselves, a member of the Soul Society or even a spirit from the World of the Living where humans reside. But once they are consumed by a Hollow, they become one. A Soul Reaper's job is to purify them and send their essence to the Soul Society to live in peace and be placed into the circle of life. The ones who have an evil side before becoming a Hollow are sent straight to hell."

Esmeralda wasn't sure how to take all this in. But one thing was for sure; she could hear it getting closer. "Alright, I'll go."

"Thank you." He released her arms, allowing her to run inside just in time for the Hollow to appear.

Ikkaku pulled out his Zanpakuto as he stepped away from the house. "Alright you overgrown piece of garbage. Lets get this over with and quickly."

Just as the Hollow was close enough to Ikkaku, he didn't let it wait long. He jumped up, attacking quickly before the Hollow could even realize there was a Soul Reaper around. The Hollow gave a loud cry in pain as Ikkaku hit it but as he landed on the ground, the wound he inflicted wasn't really that bad. The Hollow only cried out of being taken off guard.

"Damn!" Ikkaku cursed, knowing he didn't get a direct hit in. "You're going to be one tough bastard." He then grinned. "A better challenge!"

Once getting over the pain, the Hollow looked down. "A Soul Reaper!"

"Yeah, that's what I am you poor excuse of a Hollow," he hissed.

"So you're one of Captain Zaraki's men," the Hollow deduced.

Ikkaku blinked, taken off guard. "What…" he breathed. He gripped his Zanpakuto. "How the hell do you know that?!" Stretching his feet forward, he went into a pre-fighting position.

"You are Ikkaku Madarame, third seat of Squad 11." The hollow knew he was pissing off the man before him, but he wanted the Soul Reaper to know he was a well-known man.

Smile was completely gone. Who was this beast? How did he know who he was? "Answer the damn question. How the hell do you know who I am!?" He was now getting furious. If this beast knew who he was, then it also knew his fighting style.

The Hollow lifted his arm to his mask, removing it. As he removed it, his body reduced in size to be more Ikkaku's height. Ikkaku's eyes widened in complete disbelief. How could a Hollow remove its mask? Seeing the stunned look the Hollow…or whatever 'he' was… laughed. "Shocked I see. It's a good thing I only just learnt this or else you'd be able to defeat me."

"What the hell are you?" Ikkaku asked, noticing how the Hollow now had the look of a tall dark haired man appearance all except for the mask on the side of his head, which looked like that of a bear's head. He was lean like Ikkaku but his dark eyes was giving the attention of 'I'm stronger than I look.'

"Since you're about to die, I'll tell you. I'm an Arrancar, a new breed of Hollows who can remove their mask and become much stronger than before. You will be easy prey."

Ikkaku's eyes narrowed. "No. I don't think so." He quickly called out his Zanpakuto command, releasing his Shikai.

"Ah yes, your Shikai. You will never get anywhere with that wooden poll."

Ikkaku noticed the Hollow… Arrancar… was speaking to him like a regular person would. He didn't have the deep beastly sound. Jumping up, he swung once again, just in time for his blade to connect with the guy's hand.

"This just won't do," he taunted.

Ikkaku snarled as he pressed his blade into the hand, forcing the blade to go through the hand and out the other side. The Arrancar shrieked in pain, throwing himself back. As he did so, the force threw Ikkaku back, slamming him into the wall of the house.

Esmeralda jerked as she heard something crash into the house, causing the house to partially crumble in. She forced her hand against her mouth, preventing herself from screaming out. It was Ikkaku. She could see Ikkaku lying in the debris of where he crashed.

"Bastard…" Ikkaku groaned as he slowly pushed the debris aside, wobbly getting to his feet.

"You're no match for me, Ikkaku," taunted the Arrancar.

Blood was coming down over his head, nearly in his eye, as Ikkaku got his full balance back, aiming his weapon to the Arrancar. "Just because you know my name and what Squad I'm from, doesn't mean I won't kick your ass," he grounded out.

"I'm shaking in my boots." The Arrancar was really enjoying the idea of taunting him, knowing full well that was the best way to provoke him into attacking without consequence. He had to get the Soul Reaper to drop his guard so he could take the woman he was protecting. He couldn't sense her, but that just meant she was doing well in hiding her reiatsu.

Ikkaku had no idea the trap that was laid out before him nor did he remotely pay attention to Esmeralda now was approaching the hole in the wall, making her vulnerable. On his mind was how the hell was he going to defeat this guy who now knew every move he made, probably before he was going to even make it. This was a tough situation. It was bad enough the Hollow removed his mask, becoming an Arrancar, but it was worse with the idea of knowing his enemy was constantly one step ahead of him.

"Ikkaku…" Esmeralda breathed as she nervously peered around the debris of the broken wall.

The Arrancar grinned. "Just as I suspected. Always the inquisitor."

Ikkaku snapped around, eyes wide. "Esme!" he yelled. "Get the hell back!"

With the new distraction, the Arrancar swiftly pulled out his Zanpakuto, giving it a big swing; it produced a large wave of energy, knocking into Ikkaku, sending him immediately flying into five trees nearby.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Esmeralda screamed as she watched Ikkaku fly past her vision, crashing into trees, causing sickening cracking sounds as the trees broke and crashed into the ground. "IKKAKU!" The force of the thrust blew her hair into her face and her skirt, she had changed into hours ago, whirled up with the wind as well. Since she knew the two were going to stay at the house, she didn't think it was needed to wear travelling clothes.

The Arrancar grinned. "Should worry about your own safety rather than his, little girl."

Her fearful eyes slowly moved from where Ikkaku lay, unconscious, but was still very well breathing as well as bleeding, to the nearly human looking Hollow in front of her. A frightful gasp escaped her lips. This was not a Hollow and yet she could see the hole in his shoulder, indicating he was indeed a Hollow from Heuco Mundo.

"W…wh…what do you want?" she asked, frightened, legs shaking.

"I'm looking at what I want," he said, tongue snaking out to lick his lips. "My Lord wishes to speak with you."

Not liking how the man was looking at her, she stepped back. "Get away from me."

"Now why would I want to do a strange thing like that?" he asked, sword still in hand, glittering off the morning sun.

The glittering caught Esmeralda's attention and her eyes glanced down. "Th…that's a Zanpakuto!" she gasped.

"You're observant. Thanks to Lord Aizen, he was able to infuse Hollows with powers of Soul Reapers, giving us the ability to have our own Zanpakuto."

She gasped. "Lord Aizen?" she blinked. Taking a deep shaky breath, she then stood her ground. "What the hell does he want!? We've got the doorway safe!"

"Yes, but he's no longer here in the Soul Society, so he doesn't need your services any longer, but you are too powerful to kill and you can't remain here in the Soul Society in the case the Soul Reapers find out about you."

"What makes me so special?" she asked suddenly, taking a gulp of air.

"My dear, you are soo naïve," the Arrancar continued. "Why do you think your family always makes you carry your staff everywhere you go?"

Her eyes widened in shock. He was basically informing her, without saying it that Aizen knew of her powers and the abilities of her staff.

"No…" she breathed, taking a step back into the house. "That's not possible!"

"Really now?" he asked. "Then why…" he paused, to take a swing with his sword, causing the entire structure to collapse around her. He first took out the entire wall of the house and from the wall gone, the rest of the building fell. He used his sword to make the structure fall backwards, not once harming her.

"AAHHHHHH!" she screamed again as she ducked, gripping her ears from the extreme sounds the wind was making. Her hair blew all around her from the pressure of his swing.

"Are you powerless without your staff?" he finished before laughing evilly. "There is no where you can hide little Princess. Now, come with me peacefully and I promise I won't kill your bodyguard."

"Get away from me!" she cried out as she jumped to her feet, fleeing the debris of the house. She didn't make it very far as she tripped on her skirt, slightly putting a tear in the dress as she collapsed to the ground.

"This is taking too long," groaned the Arrancar. "You are going to come with me whether you like it or not."

Esmeralda got back to her feet, ignoring the rip in her dress. She looked at him angrily. "I don't know who the hell you are but you can tell that damn jackass that I would never give the information to the Soul Reapers."

"Fiesty," he smiled. "Lord Aizen would not take kindly to you for insulting him."

"I don't give a rats ass," she growled. "Just stay the hell away from me you… you… you jacksass." She took a step back, as he took a step forward.

"Jackass am I? Nice pet name for me but really my name is Jiodo."

Now he was really pissing her off. She glanced back to the house, seeing the rubble. Her staff, the ability of her power was buried in there. But that wasn't going to stop her from trying. She reached out her hand, concentrating her focus on unburying the staff.

"Haha, what do you think you're doing?" Jiodo laughed, not realizing what she was doing.

"Going to kick your ass," she hissed as she continued to concentrate.

In the rumble of the house, small pieces of splintered wood began to shake from a force underneath. It took a few seconds of the shaking but soon the wood exploded outward and out flew the golden staff, she carried with her. It flew straight into her waiting hands.

"Now you will see how I will kick your ass," she hissed. She slammed the staff to the ground. "Lightning Crumble!" she shouted.

Just as Esmeralda slammed her staff into the ground, over by the trees, Ikkaku began to regain consciousness. Everything was very hazy for him for several seconds as his hearing senses began to come back into focus.

"Ohhhh," he moaned, eyes slowly opening to see the house was completely destroyed. He blinked several times, just in time to see a lightning bolt form from the staff Esmeralda had carried with her. She would never explain what the staff was and now he was seeing what it could do. And what he was seeing was no mere typical expensive staff like she claimed it to be. A bolt of lightning was fired at the Arrancar.

The move alone, made Ikkaku's eyes widen in surprise. He had no idea she had that kind of power. What was that power? It wasn't any form of Kido he ever saw that was taught by the Kido Corps. Not even a power liked that existed from a Zanpakuto and he knew many people who had kido Zanpakuto.

Jiodo cried out as he was hit square in the shoulder, not expecting an attack like that. Esmeralda took this opportunity to try and get away while he was distracted. She had no idea all she really was doing was infuriating the Arrancar further.

"You stupid BITCH!" he shouted, swinging out with his arm, using his speed to actually have his arm collide with her.

"Esme…" Ikkaku groaned as he tried to lift himself up but couldn't. He had to first move the wood from the broken trees off him first. Forcing his body to move, he slowly began to work on moving the lumber off his body.

Esmeralda was hit square in the stomach, being forced back, her back colling into the ground, forcing more tears into her gown on her back. Her head hit the ground with a force, causing her teeth to bite into her lip, making it bleed. A painful cry escaped her lips as tears surfaced from the pain.

She was sprawled out on the ground, lying on her side. Slowly she got herself more in a sitting position, holding her bleeding lip. When she flew back, her staff was forced out of her hands, dropping to the ground.

"So what Lord Aizen said was true," Jiodo growled as he turned his attention to his prey. "Elves have the ability to use magic. And their magic is through an object. That would mean…" His eyes roamed the ground until finding the staff. "Your power comes from the staff and you can call it to your hands. Well not no more!" Lifting his leg, he stomped on the red ruby portion of the staff, shattering it.

Esmeralda's eyes widened, shock evident on her face. He had just destroyed her only means of powers. She looked up at him, fear in her eyes. There was no way to defend herself now.

Finally getting everything off of him, anger was clearly evident on his face as Ikkaku grabbed his Zanpakuto. "No one gets a cheap shot like that and gets a way with it!" He yelled, getting the two's attention.

Jiodo turned, surprised the Soul Reaper was moving. "You're awake. I thought you would have been out longer than that."

"Guess you don't know me was well as you were informed, now do you?" sneered Ikkaku. "And hitting a Princess does not go well in my books. Prepare to die you ugly son of a bitch!"

"What's the Third seat of Squad 11 going to do?" he laughed.

"Let's see and find out. With no one of my Squad here, I can show you something your damn boss never knew about." Ikkaku then grinned. More blood was revealed on his body, mixed with torn material of his uniform. The top was nearly non-existent, showing the long scar on his chest, which he received in battle with the Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo when the two first met. But the torn clothes did not bother him.

"BAN-KAI!"

Jiodo watched in complete disbelief as Ikkaku's Zanpakuto was transformed into three oversized bladed weapons. They were large enough to appear as though they should be too heavy for him but just from looking at his stance, they weren't. The two main weapons appeared to look like a Chinese Monk's spade and a standard Guan dao. Both blades had traditional horsehair tassel at the hilt, and a long, cylindrical weight for a pommel. A heavy large chain to the center section, resembling an axe blade, connected the pommels, with a parallel handle forged into the blunt end and a dragon crest on one side of the blade. The strangest part was the centerpiece seemed to sit on his backside in mid air.

"You got to be joking?" Jiodo announced suddenly, turning his full attention back to the Soul Reaper, forgetting about the Princess for the moment.

Esmeralda gazed in frozen shock as Ikkaku's weapon turned into a massive weapon that was larger than even himself and yet he could hold it with ease as if it didn't weigh anything at all. "My…word…" she whispered, hand dropping from her bleeding lip.

"Does this look like I'm joking?" asked Ikkaku. "You just pissed off the wrong Soul Reaper."

Stepping away from the Princess, Jiodo began to make his way closer to Ikkaku. He pulled up his Zanpakuto, getting ready to swing. "Do you think that monstrosity will be a match for my power?"

"Come, attack me and see," he said, taunting him. "You think you're so high and mighty, slapping a woman around."

"Damn punk!" he growled as he then charged at Ikkaku.

'So,' Ikkaku thought 'This Arrancar is easily provoked in anger. This should prove to be fun.'

He easily dodged the attack and swung around with his left spade. As he swung, Jiodo saw it coming out of the corner of his eye and jumped back, but at the same time, used his feet to deflect the attack, forcing it to swing back, causing Ikkaku to step back. The dragon on the centrepiece began to glow red as a small red line formed along the body of the dragon.

Ikkaku immediately charged back, swinging with his right spade, knowing full well the bastard was going to dodge but he had a trick up his sleeve. As anticipated, Jiodo dodged the attack, but with his eyes on the right blade, he wasn't expecting Ikkaku to be able to swing with the left.

The left spade landed against the Arrancar's leg, causing a loud cry of pain. "Bastard!" Jiodo cried out as he pushed away, causing a splatter of blood to land on the ground.

Ikkaku laughed. "I thought you knew me? You studied all my moves."

Esmeralda was still too startled to move from her position as she watched Ikkaku fight a brutal fight. She winced, seeing the blood but also noticed the red glow on the dragon in the centrepiece getting longer. What did that mean?

"There is no way in hell you're to have Bankai. Only Captains have Bankai," Jiodo growled.

"That's where you're wrong," Ikkaku smiled. "To become a Captain, one has to learn Bankai first. But I have no desire to become a Captain but do desire to be the strongest and best. I have been secretly mastering my Bankai for more than 20 years."

"Well aren't you a sneaky one, training behind your Captain's back. I doubt your Captain would like that as he doesn't even know his Zanpakuto's name."

"That is neither here nor there," Ikkaku snapped. "Now shut up already and fight me you worthless piece of Hollow trash. Just because you removed your mask and you're stronger, able to move faster, doesn't make you any less of a Hollow, just one that I will beat the hell out of and send you where you should be!"

Jiodo snarled as he pointed his sword. "Big talk to someone who doesn't even know…" he then ran at Ikkaku once again. "KIDO!" he finished yelling. He wasn't going to make the same mistake again. If one attacks to the right, he'll counter with the left, just like his normal attack.

Ikkaku smirked. This is what he wanted. Raising both arms he moved the spades as a blockage just in time for the Arrancar's sword to clash in the loud sound of metal hitting metal. The brute force behind the swing of the sword was enough to push Ikkaku back though his feet were well planted in the ground, now there were drag marks from his feet.

The dragon then glowed even more red as the red meter went up again, this time it wasn't a small move, it moved to be quarter filled now.

To scared to look away, Esmeralda finally found the ability to move, however there was a problem. As she went to move her ankle a sharp shot of pain went through her ankle. It caused her to yelp in shock. Her eyes cringed from the pain, tears surfacing.

There was only one thing that could do that… well two things actually. Either she sprained her ankle when she fell or it was broken. Needing to find out, she tried to wiggle her toes, doing her best to ignore the pain. To her surprise she could wiggle her toes and she knew then it was only sprained. She looked up to continue to watch the fight since she could get up.

"Using your blades as a block is impressive, but it won't help when I do… THIS!" He pulled up his free arm, producing a jagged dagger of sorts and brought it down hard on Ikkaku's shoulder.

The man never once yelped in pain as to him and everyone else in Squad 11, showing pain meant a sign of weakness. Well he wasn't weak. "Do you really think that is going to make me say 'ow'," Ikkaku taunted, pain clearly showing on his face as his right arm slightly went limp, forcing the spade to lower.

"No," Jiodo grinned as he pulled the dagger out, causing more blood to splatter. "But it does hinder your attacks. Now you can only block with one."

Moving his legs slightly he gripped his right spade better before giving one huge yell, forcing his strength into the one blade. The spade pushed against the Arrancar, harder than normally possible, forcing Jiodo far enough away from Ikkaku.

Ikkaku then dropped both blades and ignoring the pain in his wounded shoulder, he lifted both arms, gripping the centrepiece's handle. "You don't know the meaning of the word pain!"

With a force no one knew he had, he slowly began twirling the centrepiece, the spades lifted off the ground, slowly moving along with it. With each twirl, the spades began to spin around faster and faster. The red meter began to grow faster, getting closer to the head of the dragon.

Jiodo looked up, having been forced down to one knee from the push. He couldn't believe what Ikkaku was doing. Even with his wound, which was bleeding, he was able to do what he was currently doing. Something caught his attention though; something red was getting larger as each turn happened. Then he felt it, Ikkaku's reiatsu was building up.

"Just what the hell are you doing?"

"Showing you the true force of my power!" Soon enough the entire dragon was fully glowing red. Ikkaku then stopped swinging, grabbing both spades once again. "Let's get the show on the road!"

Faster than Jiodo thought was even possible for a Soul Reapr, Ikkaku then charged at him using lightning speed. He didn't even have time to blink before one of the blades connected against his side near his hip but at the same time the other blade connected on the other side.

In a matter of two seconds, both blades sliced right through the Arrancar, causing it to fully disappear. Ikkaku stood, breathing heavily, where he striked down the Arrancar. What no one saw was Ikkaku had managed to move the blades around so his arms were crossing. Once the Arrancar was gone, his arms were no longer crossed. The force of the attack created a huge amount of wind, forcing Esmeralda's dress to reveal her swollen sprained ankle. She was in complete shock to what she saw.

"He's…he's…he's so strong," she breathed, hair whipping behind her as she watched wide eyes as Ikkaku's closed and his bankai then disappeared, returning back to his normal sword and scabbard.

"Damn," he breathed. "I used up nearly all my reiatsu." Looking at his sword, he slowly dropped to his knees. Putting his sword into his right hand, he pulled open a cap on the hilt. Using his fingers, he placed his fingers in it, before resting it on his open wounded shoulder, spreading it around. He then proceeded to do the same with each opened wound he had. Soon the bleeding fully stopped.

He looked over to Esmeralda, seeing her swelling ankle. Her skirt was up to her knees thanks to the way she was sitting on the ground. With the bleeding stopped, he slowly stood, going over to Esmeralda and dropped down next to her.

"Let me take a look at your ankle," he said slightly out of breath.

Esmeralda finally blinked, realizing it was now over. "It hurts to move," she whispered, wincing in pain.

He looked from her ankle to her face, seeing her bleeding lip. Taking some of his ointment, he stretched forward. "This will help the bleeding as you can see the effect on me."

She watched his finger get close to her cut lip and stiffened up, eyes closing. But soon she felt his finger tip touch the cut. The ointment tingled on her lip and the sting seemed to have vanished.

"What is that?" she asked quietly.

"A special ointment which helps to stop the bleeding," he replied. His finger lingered on her lip a moment longer than needed before his eyes turned away from her lips to regard her ankle once again. "I'll take a look at your ankle now."

His hands carefully reached down, wanting to get a better look. As his fingers lightly touched the swelling, she winced in pain, collapsing her body to the ground. "It hurts!" she hissed, tears springing to her eyes.

"It looks like it does," he answered. Something caught his attention and he looked further down. "Damn it!" he cursed. "You have more than a sprain, you pulled the bone out of joint. I'll need to reset it and it's going to hurt like freaking hell."

"What do you mean?" she yelped out, trying to sit up.

Carefully getting to his feet, he slowly walked over to where he crashed into the trees, grabbing a small stick of wood. He then walked back over to Esmeralda. "You won't like this, but I need you to bite on this and bite hard. And don't argue with me on this. I have to fix your foot before your foot stays that way forever and never be able to heal right. I don't have medical practice but was taught emergency first aide."

"But…" more tears came to her eyes.

He looked at her sternly. "Do you want to never be able to walk?"

She gasped as the tears fell. She shook her head. "No…" she whimpered.

He shoved the stick into her face. "Then bite down as hard as you can."

She shakenly nodded, taking the stick from his hand, putting it in her mouth. She then laid back down as best as she could, bracing herself. She even gripped his leg as he stretched down. He felt her grip, but ignored it. Probably would be for the best anyway.

With his hands back down at her feet, he took a good grip on her wounded leg. "On the count of three. One…two…" He heard her suddenly cry out, knowing the pain was coming. "Three!"

With one hand on her foot and the other just above her ankle, he did just as he said. At the word three, he then quickly snapped her ankle back into place forcing a dignify scream from her at the same time she bit down on the stick. Her hand holding his food gripped it to the point of drawing blood from her nails.

He winced at the pain and pressure, but ignored it. She needed something. The pain was so prominent, she couldn't even cry. However, the pain shooting through her leg became so intense, the grip on his foot loosened and then fell away. Her head fell to the side, stick falling out as her eyes closed.

He snapped to her attention, immediately feeling the pressure release. "Esme!" he yelled. He moved over to her, pulling her into his lap. His fingers went to check for a pulse and when he found one with a steady rhythm he breathed a sigh of relief. She only passed out from the pain. There wasn't anything more for him to do but lay down and rest himself and build his reiatsu back up.


	4. Part 4

**Ikkaku: Forbidden Love Chronicles  
Part 4**

Waking once again, first thing she noticed was being on the ground with a bedroll beneath her. What the heck happened? The last thing she could remember was…was Ikkaku fighting who called himself an Arrancar and Ikkaku revealed he had a Bankai. But that wasn't all… she was wounded. Of course! She had fallen on her ankle when the Arrancar attacked her. Realizing this, she tried to force her eyes to open, but released a moan of pain instead.

"Easy now, Esmeralda. Let your senses return slowly. Don't over do it."

Was that Ikkaku talking just now? Was he actually being concerned? That wasn't like him to do that.

"Ikkaku…" she whimpered.

"You fainted from the extreme amount of pain you endured when I snapped your ankle back into place. You won't be able to walk for a bit, but I did manage to put a splint around your ankle to be sure to keep your ankle straight."

Finally able to open her eyes, Esmeralda was able to finally see Ikkaku sitting beside her. She also saw it was nighttime. It appeared he had on a clean uniform, but how?

"Your…your clothes…" she breathed.

"Luckily for me, had an extra set with me. Was able to unbury our stuff from the rumble of the house, but unfortunately we'll have to sleep outside for the night."

"Sleep outside!" she gasped, trying to sit up, but immediately regretted it as a shot of pain ran up her leg, coming from where Ikkaku pulled her ankle back into joint.

"Will you just relax!" he grumbled as he grasped her shoulders, leaning her back down. "It's a clear night, no storms coming upon us this time."

Not able to argue with pain still shooting through her leg, she allowed him to lay her back down, gently, to her surprise. "What now?" she whimpered.

"Tonight, we sleep out here. Tomorrow, we'll make our way to the nearest village to have our wounds treated," he answered.

She gave him a sceptical look, not liking the idea one bit. But she really couldn't argue with him. The house was destroyed and she couldn't even walk, he had to carry her. That was something she wasn't sure how she would like that. He would have to help her with everything… including trips to the bathroom… speaking of the bathroom…

Her face flushed a scarlet red. "Ummm…Ikkaku…" she started very shyly.

He looked at her, seeing her brightly flushed face, which confused him. "What?" he asked.

"Ummm…" she slightly turned her head. "Ineedthebathroom…"

"What?" he blinked. "Speak up. I couldn't hear you. Don't speak so fast."

"I said…" she paused. "I need…thebathroom…" she whispered.

"Damn it woman!" he yelled. "Will you speak up!"

"I need the damn bathroom!" she yelled.

His eyes widened like saucers. "You…what…" he breathed.

"You heard me!" she hissed. "I'm not repeating myself!"

His face lit up in a blush, realizing how bad their predicament was. "Let's just get this over with." He turned his head, hating this.

Carefully, he brought his hand onto her arm and the other supporting her back and slowly stood, bringing her with him. When she felt him touch her, she wanted to snap at him, but knew it wasn't the time or he wouldn't help her. Swallowing her pride, she allowed him to lift her up.

"If you tell anyone about this…" she began in a hiss.

"Tell anyone," he retorted. "If my Squad were to learn of this, I'd never hear the end of it."

In a silent agreement of not talking about this to anyone, the two walked… well he walked she hobbled… over to what was left of the house. Closing his eyes tightly, his face went scarlet red.

"What now?" he asked.

She too blushed once again. "Umm… just hold me up and…I'll…I'll do the rest."  
He continued to keep his eyes tightly shut as he felt her clothes shift. He held her by her waist, feeling her keeping all her weight to one foot while the other was slightly raised. Sweat poured down his face as he felt her skirt upward and then she tried to crouch down. Not wanting to say anything, he went with her movement, holding her up. For several seconds the two stood in the position as he tried to block out the sounds around him.

When she was finished, he felt her clothes shift once again and her body wanted to lift up. Taking it as a sign to get up…he stood back to his full height.

"Ta…" she squeaked. She cleared her throat. "Take me to the river so I can wash my hands."

Opening his eyes, he completely avoided looking at her as he walked her over to the river. Sitting on the ground, she stretched over to clean her hands off as Ikkaku strolled away from her to tend to the fire he had made while she was unconscious.

"Ikkaku," she finally called to him after several minutes of silence. "I'm sorry for being a bitch."

Ikkaku looked up suddenly, staring at her like she grew a second head.

"What?" she asked a little too abruptly.

"You apologizing," he remarked. "I wasn't expecting that."

She grinned, realizing she stumped him. "Well you did save my life and all."

Ikkaku nodded, relaxing. "You're welcome," he said. "I'm just glad I was able to stop that, whatever it was called, from capturing you. I'm getting the feeling the negotiation talks are just a distraction."

"Why do you say that?" she asked just as Ikkaku went back over to her.

Ikkaku looked at her for a moment before bending down and suddenly lifted her into his arms. Her arms immediately went around his neck as she gasped. "Because." His voice was quiet as he carried her back over to the fire. "What you told me about Aizen and what that thing you went after you…There's just too many things not adding up. Why would after all these years your enemy decide to choose now, of all times, a cease-fire? Especially now that Aizen has betrayed the Soul Society."

"So what happened?" she asked as he reached the campfire and carefully sat her down on her bedroll.

"Aizen was Captain of the 13 Court Guard Squads and he killed the entire assembly hall of the Seireitei for his own plans. Also tried to have a friend of mine's best friend be executed before a Ryoka invasion and completely sent the city into chaos. It was quite fun actually. In the end Aizen admitted he's been undermining many things for years and fled to Heuco Mundo."

"If there's a way to get this formula removed from my back, I would be safe and in the clear of Aizen," she said. Her eyes then suddenly widened. "My staff! Where's my staff!?"

"He smashed it, remember?"

"I can't use my magic without it!" she demanded. She then thought a moment. "I could fix it."

He blinked. "How?"

"I could use my spirit energy to fuse the ruby back together. It will take a lot out of me, but it can be done. It's very rare but has happened before."

Ikkaku looked around, seeing the broken staff. "Why don't you try in the morning then? Right now it's dark and you haven't had anything to eat today. Plus you're wounded." He then paused. "Tell me. Why didn't you tell me you were some sort of wizard?"

"I'm not a wizard, nor am I a witch," she answered. "All Elves are born with magic but with each each Elf, the source of their magic comes from an object. In my case it's a staff, which is treated as a family heirloom as it's been in the family for longer than I've been alive."

"Guess that would explain why you're so far away from the Seireitei."

She leaned back on her bedroll, noticing something cooking in the fire. "You have no idea. I could get to your city in a matter of seconds."

This perked his interest. "How so?"

"It's not something we like to advertise as many could take advantage of it. For now, can you just be satisfied that I can."

"Fair enough," he said. Grabbing his Zanpakuto, he stabbed at whatever was over the fire, pulling at it, resting it on a bunch of leaves he had on the ground. "Sorry this is all we have to eat right now. I won't ask any more questions about this magic of yours if you agree not to bitch about tonight's meal."

"I'll agree to that," she replied. She sat back up as she watched Ikkaku pull some meat off the animal he no doubtably killed. Using something like what she had used when she made them their meal, he then took the food over to her. "I'm not the best cook."

She wanted to retort a comment but bit her tongue and took her portion of food. "Not your fault we were attacked. It's actually mine."

"Yours?"

"Think about it. I have the formula," she said.

"True." He then stepped back away from her, getting some for himself.

The two then ate quietly at the bitter taste of their meal. It would have been better if they had some salt or even pepper to give it some flavor. But there was no sense in complaining when they had to deal with what they had. Before the two ate, Ikkaku had made sure there was a container of water for each of them.

When the two had their fill, Ikkaku took a part of the rest of the animal and pulled out some bags he had brought with him. He was keeping it very well to himself but each time he moved, a sharp pain would jab through his side. He did not want her to know the injuries he sustained were actually hindering his normal performance. He was only able to hunt down a rabbit, which for a member of Squad 11, that was pitiful.

"How was your meal?" he asked, looking up to her, seeing how beautiful she looked with the fire lighting up her face.

"Honest opinion, it was crap," she admitted. "But for where we are, it wasn't that bad." She laid back down, looking at the stars. "Tell me, what are humans like?"

"Humans?" he blinked, not expecting that. "Well they're really not that much different than most of us Soul Reapers. Some have spirit energy while many don't."

"So humans look much like you then?" she asked.

"Yeah, more or less. They don't have large pointy ears as yours are. Not that I'm saying yours are hideous or anything. I'm just saying Elves don't exist there."

"I see," she said. "Have you ever been to their world?"

"Why so many questions?" he asked, startled by this. Her voice wasn't sounding rude, only sounding like someone who was curious.

"I've always been curious about humans," she answered. "They fascinate me."

He lightly chuckled as he then once again got up and this time went over to sit beside her. "I have been to their world but it's been some time since I was last there. Probably about 10 years or more."

She looked up at him as he looked down upon her. As he stared into her face, his eyes drifted to her lips. Sudden thoughts came to mind on how it would feel to kiss those forbidden lips. She was a Princess and he was a lowly Soul Reaper from the Rukon District.

Her heart skipped a beat as she looked up at him. With her lying down and he looking over her, his face was completely glowing from the fire. He was quite handsome and though had wounds on his face, they actually enhanced his features.

"Ikkaku…" she breathed.

"Esmeralda…" he breathed back.

The two of them seemed to be in a trance.

Unconsciously he moved his body around so he was looking down upon her upside down. With doing so, his face seemed to get lower to hers. Of a will of their own, her eyes seemed to close; not seeming to care Ikkaku was getting closer to her face.

"Ikkaku…"

"Esme…"

Esme? Why was he calling her that? And that wasn't the first time she heard him say it. Before she could question, his lips lightly touched hers. She had no idea he lowered himself down that quick after her eyes closed. But that really wasn't something she wanted to think about. His rough lips were quite soft against her own.

Her hand reached up, resting on the back of his neck before forcefully applying pressure, pressing his lips tight against hers. It would seem she wanted to be in control even on something like this.

His eyes widened by the shock of her pressure. When his lips brushed her own, he knew he was treading on thin waters. But it was something he couldn't help. Her bitchy attitude attracted his attention and she was more stubborn than a mule, which added even more to the attraction. Seeing her eyes were closed, Ikkaku felt the pressure of his own eyes wanting to close as his hand reached up to brush her cheek.

Eyes shut, he allowed himself to fall prey to her lips. For her, feeling his hand on her cheek caused her stomach to produce butterflies. She had never had anyone gently caress her cheek before. She applied more pressure on his neck as her other hand wrapped around the other side, pulling him nearly on top of her. He had to brace his legs on the ground as to not fall completely on top of her.

Soon he found the strength to pull away. Grasping her arms from around his neck, he brought them so they were between them.

"Esme…" he started. "We have to talk."

Her heart was still pounding. "I don't want to talk…"

He smiled at her. "I can see that. Esme, you realize this is forbidden? I could get in so much trouble for this."

"I know…" she then blinked. "Why do you keep calling me Esme?"

He thought for a moment. "Not sure, but I like it."

She smiled. "I do too. No one has ever shortened my name down before and I actually like you calling me that."

She went to pull her hands out of his grasp, but he held them fast. "Let go," she quietly said.

"Not until you tell me why. Why are you suddenly not caring? Just this morning we were arguing. And now you're acting like that doesn't matter."

"What does it matter?" she asked, body began to tremble with impatience. "You're quite handsome and sexy when you're angry."

Ikkaku blinked, releasing her hands. "Are you serious?"

Seeing as her hands were now free, she rested them on the bedroll and used them to push herself up so he wasn't looking down any longer. "Don't you find me attractive?" she asked suddenly. "You were the one who just kissed me first."

His jaw dropped. "I wouldn't have kissed you if I didn't find you attractive!"

She pulled herself closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. How she did it, Ikkaku would never know but somehow when she lifted herself up, not once did she wince in pain or even caused her ankle to shoot shots of pain through her leg. But before either knew it, she had him sitting fully on the ground and she was sitting on his lap. If her ankle was fine, she would have straddled him.

His heart jumped up a few notches, hammering against his chest as she sat on his lap. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

"Speechless?" she grinned. "Good. Then for once I win and you lose. I like you Ikkaku and though I didn't the other day when you first arrived. You are quite strong and did protect me. So for that you have more than my respect." Her hands were looped around his neck as she pulled herself even closer.

He cleared his throat, finally finding his voice. "What… are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" she flirted. "I'm in your lap, arms around your neck. The most obvious statement should be… shut up and kiss me already. I am an impatient woman and you don't want me to get bitchy do you?"

Hearing her be so direct, caused his own heart to swell. She would make a great member to Squad 11 if she were a Soul Reaper. "Don't say I didn't warn you." His hand reached up to the back of her neck and quickly pushed her head against his, crashing their lips together in a hard kiss.

What tried to be a gasp but only escaped, as a moan as it was the only thing Esmeralda seemed to do while he kissed her hard. But she wasn't going to let his over sized ego win on that. No. She would kiss back, just as fierce.

He would have smiled, but with his lips so tight against hers, he couldn't. With a decision, he moved his lips over hers, telling her he was going to win this. She wasn't going to have any of that. Her lips began to move along with his, trying to dominate him. Two could play that.

Opening her mouth, her tongue decided to lick his lips. She wanted to know what he would do. Well she got her answer. Before she could muster a gasp, his mouth opened and his tongue was deep inside her cavern. It didn't take long for her tongue to reach up and the two began a battle of tongues.

Small noises came from her as her arms tightened. His arms were rested against her waist as he greatly enjoyed the kiss. And with it being so taboo, it was making it all the sweeter. For what seemed like forever, the two continued to kiss until they were forced apart for lack of oxygen in the lungs. They pulled back at the exact same time, both breathing heavily, trying to get the air into the lungs. But as they did so, the two stared at each other.

She slid out of his lap, back onto her bedroll. "Why don't we just relax by the fire?" she suggested.

He silently nodded, sitting close to her. His hand reached out, unconsciously, grabbing her hand. She leaned her head against him as the two continued to watch the fire in silence, at least until she eventually fell asleep on his shoulder.

Realizing she was asleep, he carefully slid her back onto her bedroll and went to get up to rest in his. But as he went to do so, her hand, in her sleep, grabbed his arm. "Don't leave me…" she whispered.

Seeing she was talking in her sleep, he tried to pried her fingers off his arm but they wouldn't move. Sighing in defeat, he used his feet to grab his bedroll and laid it down next to hers. He watched her sleep until she released his arm but instead cuddled into his body.

He was taken completely surprised by this, but too tired to fight the issue, he allowed his body to relax, willing sleep to take over his over tired body.

* * *

Next morning, Esmeralda was the first to wake, finding herself snuggled into a pair of strong arms. She looked up into the face of the man who was holding her and grinned. The two had kissed last night before falling asleep and it was no 'good night' kiss. No it was a kiss that was much more than that.

She released a giggle, trying to stifle it with clamping her hand over mouth at the same time biting her lip. But unfortunately it woke her bed partner.

"Just what do you think is so damn funny?" grumbled a voice.

Her eyes widened. "You're awake!?" she squeaked.

"Kind of hard not to sleep when you're giggling against my chest. Your breath is tickling me."

She bit her lip further, not wanting to get giddy at the idea she just tickled Ikkaku. That was something she was going to have to remember for a later date. "Didn't realize you were ticklish," she managed to say, grinning.

"Laugh it up!" he barked as he pulled his arms away from her, stretching. "And I'm not ticklish!"

She quirked a brow. "You're not are you?" she inquired, enjoying being a little playful. "Then why are you getting defensive and you just said my breath…" she lightly breathed onto his exposed chest. "Is ticklish."

Ikkaku hissed, clenching his eyes shut, trying not to squirm from how truthful those words were. He was indeed ticklish. But he couldn't let her know that or she would never leave him alone.

"Look!" he sat fully up, away from her tantalizing breath. "We need to get something to eat and then be on our way and I'm sure you need the bathroom as well." Something he was not looking forward to.

Her giggling subsided as the pressure began to build up. "Come to think of it, yes I do." She too wasn't looking forward to doing that. "Well might as well get this done and over with."

Sighing, Ikkaku carefully picked her up and did the exact same thing he did the night before. He kept his eyes closed again but this time they weren't clenched shut like before. When she was done, he took her to the stream to wash her hands and then back to the bedroll, before starting up the fire. He then handed her the left over food and asked her to reheat it while he went and did his morning business.

When he came around the shambles of the house, he went over and picked up Esmeralda's staff and the pieces of ruby that were broken and placed them beside her as she continued to work on reheating their meal from the night before.

"Oh, thank you," she said as she pulled out the meat from the fire that she stuck onto a stick, sticking it over the fire. "Here, some of it is heated."

He took what as heated and began to eat. "Why don't you show me how you can fix that while I heat up your portion?" he suggested.

She nodded and moved her body around to face her staff. Bringing her hands over the broken ruby, she closed her eyes and concentrated her spirit energy into her hands. Ikkaku watched, mesmerized as her hands began to glow blue, feeling her reiatsu.

For several minutes he watched as her staff slowly rebuilt itself until finally the glow disappeared, showing a fully restored staff on the ground, beside her.

"Amazing," he breathed.

"Thank you," she said tiredly. "It takes a lot of out of me."

"I can see that. First why don't you eat something and then we'll pack up and slowly start heading towards a town to get ourselves medically checked out."

She weakly nodded and took the food he handed her. She slowly ate her food as Ikkaku worked on gathering their things up. Once packed, he noticed she was nearly passing out from exhaustion. He had to work fast as possible considering he was wounded.

"Let's go," he said, putting out the fire before lifting her into his arms, just in time for her to fully pass out in his arms. He looked at her and frowned. "Just great. This is going to be a lonely walk. Oh well." He then set off in the direction he knew where there was a village with a medic. A village that was protected from Hollows.

* * *

For nearly a week, Ikkaku and Esmeralda traveled, trying to reach a village. By the time they had both arrived, they were both in need of not only medical attention, but also food and a bath. During the week they were together, Ikkaku refused to let Esmeralda stop long enough to bathe. He was afraid the cold water of the streams they were always around would make her injuries worse. He would do what he could to be sure her injuries stayed cleaned. This caused a tiff to happen between them and they had refused to talk to one another.

"Still not talking to me?" asked Ikkaku as the two sat at a table in an inn, eating a hot cooked meal for a change, since now their injuries were dealt with and they were freshly clean.

"You wouldn't let me bathe!" she yelled.

Ikkaku scowled. "I told you already it was because I was afraid the water would bother your injuries and I didn't want to get in the water for fear I would not get out!"

"You're just a chicken!"

Everything went silent. "What did you just say!?" he asked suddenly demanded quietly.

"You heard me," she snorted. "I said you're a chicken."

Faster than a blink of an eye, he disappeared from the other side of the table, only to appear behind her. He grabbed her arm, swinging her around, pushing her up against the wall. Both her arms were pinned against his and he was pushing his body up against her. She barely had time to force a gasp from her lips when she was pushed against the wall.

"I dare you to say that again," he seethed, looking as though he was ready to kill.

Fear danced in her eyes. What was he going to do? She really didn't think he would do anything, as he was her guardian. He had to protect her no matter what. That was what he was getting paid to do. "I said…" she paused, her eyes blazing in sudden anger in being held so tightly. "You're hurting me, you big… chicken…"

He growled suddenly before unexpectedly pushing forward, pushing his lips hard against hers. The second their lips were together, he forced his tongue into her mouth, instantly fighting for dominance like before. His hands remained against her arms, preventing her from moving. She couldn't do anything but either stand there and let him or join in.

Taking the lesser of two evils, her tongue soon reached up to battle with his as she pressed herself tighter up against him, though she barely could move her body as it was but that wasn't going to stop her from trying though. As the two continue to have a duel of tongues, neither seemed to notice if anyone entered the room. They only cared about each other at that moment.

Ikkaku was beginning to feel aroused being so pressed up tight against her. Carefully he pulled his lips away from hers, allowing the both of them to take in gulps of air into their lungs.

"What…was…that for?" she asked breathlessly.

"What did it…" he too was out of breath. "Look like… to you?"

He leaned his forehead against hers. For several minutes neither one spoke. Both looked into each other's eyes, waiting for the other to speak. Their silent staring contest tag was beginning to annoy Ikkaku, but he wasn't going to back down from her.

Finally she blinked. "What is your game?"

"No game," he answered. "But your lips are quite addicting."

"I'll show you addicting," she hissed.

"Perhaps later," he said as he released her arms. "Right now we need to fill up supplies and be on our way. We still have 2 weeks to go."

As soon as he turned his back to her, she stuck out her tongue at him. Unknown to her he was watching her from the corner of his eye.

"As I've said before," he started. "Don't stick out your tongue unless you're going to use it."

Her mouth dropped. "Well you seem to be pretty good at doing that yourself!" She shot back.

He turned swiftly around. "And your nasty tongue there might get caught again, if you keep this up," he challenged back.

Keeping her mouth silent, she quickly threw up her hand, giving him a finger. Peeling herself off the wall, she marched passed him, leaving the room to gather her stuff back before the two left the town. Ikkaku left the room himself, realizing there were people looking at him. As he past by them he stopped and glared at them.

"What the hell are you looking at!?" he yelled. "Haven't you ever seen two people kissing before!?" With that he left.

* * *

As the second week continued to travel by, Ikkaku and Esmeralda found themselves at yet another abandoned house and this time they were not in a Hollow activity territory. When the two left the village they were in, Esmeralda had a wrap on her foot, but was beginning to be able to walk on her own. She had Ikkaku there to help her though to walk and within a day, she was able to take the wrap off and walk on her own. The splint he made actually worked very well. She no longer needed his help to go to the bathroom, which was a relief to both of them.

The two had only been travelling a day when they found the abandoned house, which to Esmeralda's surprise; it had a hot spring right behind it. The house was in better shape than the first one and Ikkaku deduced it was only abandoned in the last 10 years or so, if not less. He figured the person or people who lived there had died. In the Soul Society when someone would die, their body would vanish into thin air, their essence falling into the circle of the life bowl to be reborn in the World of the Living.

Every night, while Ikkaku would go off and hunt for some food for the two of them, she would take a relaxing bath , enjoying what the hot springs had to offer.

"Again! You're in those springs!" Ikkaku grumbled as he came upon the springs with an animal over his shoulder.

"I'm a Princess," she retorted. "Being out here is not good for my skin."

Ikkaku snorted. "You're crazy."

"I must be to allow you to kiss me like that in that inn when we were in that village. I still can't believe you did that."

He smirked. He knew she was wearing something covering her entire body it was basically a bathing suit she had brought with her, which was something he had no idea she brought until the day she went into the springs.

"You enjoyed that just as much as I did and don't try to deny it." He stopped just in front of the springs, looking down at her suit. He could see it was a simple black suit, which hid her cleavage. It looked to be something he had heard Rukia Kuchiki talk about in what athletes wore in swimming contests.

She looked at him trying to give him a crude look, but as soon as her eyes met his, her heart leapt to her throat. He was very handsome. She quickly turned her head away. "Why would I enjoy such a thing as that!"

His smirk widened as he lowered down until his mouth was close to her ear. "Because if you didn't enjoy it, you wouldn't have allowed me to kiss you like that nor would have responded so fiercely like you did."

Her face flushed scarlet as she felt his breath in her ear. "You're delusional," she tried to hiss.

"Really, now?" He could see she was trying not to admit it but her body was betraying her. "Shall we give it another go then?"

She turned her head to him… bad mistake… she was trying to get his breath away from her sensitive ears but when she turned, her lips brushed his. Their eyes were locked onto one another.

"I'll take that as a yes," he whispered, lips brushing hers as he spoke. His eyes then closed as his hand wrapped to the back of her neck and pulled her tight against his lips.

She never bothered to try and stop him as she was pushed further against him. Her hands came out from the water to clench his uniform top just as he dropped the animal to the ground he had hunted. His now free arm was able to rise up and rest the hand against her cheek as they both opened their mouths at the same time to receive the other, pushing the kiss even deeper.

However, Esmeralda got a little mischievous. As she continued to kiss him, knowing soon they would have to stop for air, she gripped her hands against his uniform and brought her body around to get better access in what she was about to do.

Soon they broke for air and Esmeralda sprung her trap into action. With a force Ikkaku was surely not expecting, she pulled him forward, straight into the water, head first.

"AAHHHHHHHH!" he screamed before a huge splash was heard.

When she flipped him over, she was sure to step out of the way, not wanting to collide with him. His head soon popped out of the water while the one woman who did it, laughed, enjoying it.

"What the HELL!" he yelled. His face was fuming mad, as he glared at her.

She giggled. "Serves you right. Don't you think for one second you can use that trick on me. You can't go bragging around just because you're a good kisser."

"Look at me! I'm soaked!" He growled.

"Yes, you sure are," she agreed, giggling. "That'll teach you a lessen in trying to seduce a Princess."

His jaw dropped. "Seduce… You think I was trying…" He then stopped, remembering her telling him her ears were sensitive. She was reacting to the fact of her sensitivity. "I'll get you back for this. Mark my words."

"Bring it on!" she challenged.

His eyes widened, surprised by her challenge. She was a Princess and yet was quite impressed in how she was standing up to him. She had more guts than many were giving her credit for.

Releasing a snort, he turned his head from her. He pulled himself out of the water. Luckily for him he was able to get a sleeping yukata from the village they were in and now he was going to have to put that on until his uniform dried. He would get her back that was a promise.

* * *

It seemed like Esmeralda's little sneaky play was forgotten but unknown to her it was well not forgotten. Ikkaku had been biding his time, finding the perfect time to get her back. But while he planned his time, waiting for the perfect moment, the two continued to get closer and closer even as the third week started. The two continued to share more kisses along the way, knowing full well it was dangerous and quite taboo.

On the very last night at the house, Ikkaku knew he had to put his plan into motion, but his growing feelings for Esmeralda was something else on his mind too.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked coming up to him, sitting beside him.

He turned to her, looking serious. "When I first met you, you were just one little bitch I wanted nothing to do with. But now, I find myself in a situation that very well could get me banished from the Seireitei."

She took a breath. She could see in what he was getting at. "I know…" she said. "When I met you, I didn't want a babysitter but since coming out here with you, I've learnt a side to you that I'm sure no other would ever know about."

"You're damn straight on that," he agreed. "I'm third seat of Squad 11, the strongest Squad. It's very rare to even see women in our squad. Tomorrow, we head back, I get paid for my services and I leave back for the Seireitei to resume my duties. But…" he trailed off.

She took a deep breath. "But… what?" she asked, heart in her throat, dreading his next words.

He turned fully to her, hands cupping her cheeks. "I find myself unable to say goodbye," he admitted.

She took an intake of breath, her eyes dancing, staring into his. She wanted to open her mouth to speak, but found herself unable to.

"Esme," he continued, not wanting to lose the nerve. "I have fallen in love with you."

Her eyes widened as a large gasp escaped her throat. She could not believe her ears. He was telling her his feelings.

Seeing she couldn't say anything, as he knew his words just threw her off guard, he leaned forward, capturing her lips in a kiss that was not like any of their other kisses they had in the last three weeks. This was pure gentle and full of passion. Something completely not of Ikkaku's style, at least not anyone would think.

Immediately her body felt the pull to respond, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him even closer to her. This kiss was throwing her completely for a loop and it was something she was greatly enjoying. Instead of demanding entrance like he had done many times before, he asked for entrance, which she gave whole-heartedly. Soon the two were having a duel of tongues once again and as each second passed between the two of them, their kiss became more passionate and fierce.

Not wanting to let her go, but knowing he had to breath again, he pulled her onto his lap. With her wearing her travelling clothes it was very easy for her to straddle him. The two broke apart.

"Ikkaku," she breathed. "I too have feelings for you."

He lightly smiled. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know. But I too don't want to say goodbye either . Isn't there a way we could do this?"

He shook his head as he pushed her so her head was leaning against his shoulder. "I don't know. I live three days travel using flash step away. I don't know how we could make it work."

Thinking, she then remembered telling him of a trick she knew of but wouldn't go into detail about it. "I may have an idea," she said, immediately getting his full attention.

He tilted his head, giving her an odd look. "And what idea is that?"

She smiled as she looked to her staff. "Remember when I told you I could travel from place to place instantly. We could use that. At least that's the theory it can do."

Ikkaku nodded remembering. He was now completely curious by whatever idea she had in mind. "What is it?"

"I may have an amulet that could be used for what we need it for. If I'm correct on this, it could open a doorway, able to transport you from your city to the palace instantly."

"Are you serious?!" The idea of something like that happening was quite intriguing and it reminded him of how the Hollows would get to Earth, by means of a Garganta. "Isn't that like what Hallows use?"

"It's something like it, yes," she answered. "But only people of this world can walk through." She cuddled him further, tightening her arms around him. "There is one little side affect, it's only opened for a couple minutes. If you don't make it through in time…"

"We have something like that too when we travel between this world and the World of the Living," he finished for her.

"Oh." She gave a blank look. She looked up at him with love in her eyes. "When we get home, why don't we look to see if we still have it and then see if it does work?"

"That's an idea." He looked down at her. Immediately he had an overwhelming urge to kiss her once again. "You're so addicting," he breathed as he slowly lowered his head to her.

"Am I?" she smirked as she allowed her head to be angled in the best position for him to kiss her.

"You are." His breath brushed against her lips. Soon enough his lips rested against hers.

As their lips touched, her arms left his back and went straight to his neck, pulling herself up further so he wasn't leaning down too far. She even went so far as getting up on her knees, while he remained sitting on his butt, but that didn't bother him in being on the hard ground. His lips were against hers while his tongue duelled and to him that was all that mattered. It was like he'd rather kiss her than fight. But if a battle were to come up, he would enjoy that just as much.

Light moans escaped her throat, causing Ikkaku to feel aroused. His eyes widened, realizing he was getting a little too excited. Pulling his arms from around her back, he rested them against her shoulders; lightly pulling her addicting lips away from his.

"Perhaps," he started, panting. "We should just work on enjoying each other's company."

She was a bit confused why he wanted to stop kissing but knew he was right. This was their last night together. Tomorrow, he would probably use flash step and get back to the palace in no time. They both knew they weren't too far from the kingdom. Using flash step would only take probably about an hour or so.

"Ok," she agreed. "So what shall we do then?"

He smirked. She was completely clueless. Now was the perfect time to get his plan into motion. But now the problem was, how to get his plan into motion?

"Well, I have an idea," she started. "I haven't done this in a long time." She crawled up off the ground, much to his relief, as he was still excited from their kiss.

"And what's that?"

"Well first why don't I go inside and change? Don't want to sleep in my travel clothes." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips leaving him there on the ground as she went inside the little house they've been staying in to change.

Minutes later, she returned wearing a sleeping Yukata. She smiled, seeing he was still on the ground. Taking a deep breath, she suddenly slapped him on the head. "Tag! You're it!" She then took off running.

"Why you…" he growled as he jumped to his feet, giving chase. "I'm going to get you for that!"

She giggled. "Come and get me… or are you too chicken!?"

"I'm not a chicken!" he yelled. His eyes narrowed as he saw her getting close to the springs. Well this was going to work better than he thought. She had just annoyed him and now making him run after her, but the best part was, she was wearing her sleeping clothes, which meant she wouldn't be able to sleep in them and she was coming upon the springs. Now he just had to get up to her before she got past it and put his revenge into motion. He never forgot what she did to him and he had full plans in paying her back for splashing him.

He had no choice, he was going to have to flash step to catch up to her before she went too far. Doing just that, he flashed to just be in front of her when she ran completely into his solid, hard body.

"Oofph!" she grunted. Getting her bearings, she looked up to see Ikkaku giving her an evil smirk.

"You know," he said in a deep voice. "You slapping my head and making me chase you is not my idea of how to spend our last night together, but…" he stopped.

She gave him a blank look but then gasped as his hands grasped her waist, lifting her up high in his arms. "I think this is how we shall spend the rest of this night."

"Ikkaku!" she squealed. "What are you doing!?" Her heart hammered, nervous in what he was doing. The way he looked at her and spoke to her, something wasn't right.

"Just…" He then flung his arms, her and all. "THIS…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAH!" Her entire body was immediately submersed in water, silencing her scream.

She was quick to resurface, screaming. "IKKAKU! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

He brushed his hands. "Revenge is a dish best served cold. This will teach you for forcing me in with my clothes on."

Her face was beat red from anger as she began to yell at him, "YOU MOTHER FUCKER SON OF A FUCKING BITCH! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME! I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO WEAR!"

In a sarcastic type way, he stuck his finger into his ear, as if he was trying to say she was getting loud. "Guess you shouldn't have changed your clothes until afterwards. So you'll either need to wear your ripped dress, travel clothes or perhaps my Yukata as I'm wearing this tonight."

Seeing he was acting like he was ignoring her, she tried to make her way out of the water, only to trip over the material and falling into the water once again. She resurfaced once again.

"Careful, clothing is quite heavy when it's soaking wet. I should know…" He turned to her, giving his full attention. "As you did that to me when I was wearing my Shihakusho."

Her mouth dropped as she went deadly silent, remembering when she did that to him and he had promised to get her back for that. Her eyes widened at the realization.

He smirked. "Looks like you remember. I did tell you I would get you back and I never forgot it. Next time you decide to do something like that to me, you'll know I will pay you back. As humans say 'pay back's a bitch'."

She deeply sighed. "Fine…" she pouted. "You win. Can you at least help me out of here?"

He crossed his arms, looking as though he was contemplating the idea.

"Ikkaku!" she whined.

"Oh, alright, I'll help you," he said, uncrossing his arms, holding a hand out to her. "But don't you dare pull me in, or I'll again get you back."

She never said anything as she held her hand out to him and together; she was able to get out. Once out, she silently went back into the house to change into something she could wear to sleep in. He was completely satisfied in how his plan had worked. He waited for several minutes before going into the house, only to see her pouting on her bedroll.

"You're beautiful when you pout," he smiled.

"You threw me in the water," she said.

He went over, getting down on his knees, leaning on her bedroll. "Esme, you did force my hand." He stretched forward, kissing her lips lightly. "You're beautiful…" he kissed her lips again. "And I love it when you're mad…" a kiss again.

Each time he said a line and kissed her afterwards, her anger was slowly disappearing and her heart began to flutter once again. If anyone ever knew in Squad 11 Ikkaku was a teddy bear, they would never believe it and would laugh in Ikkaku's face. She was going to have to protect his reputation.

Eventually though his light kissing began to annoy her as her hands reached up to still his head while she kissed him full on the mouth. She then pulled him down where he landed on top of her and she was laying on the bedroll. He so wanted to lose control but he knew it wasn't the time. They had only known each other a short time and just their kissing was treason. If the Head Captain were to find out about this, Ikkaku would be in more shit than Rukia Kuchiki ever was when she gave her powers to Ichigo.

After pulling away, he pulled himself to lay on his bedroll but pulled her tight up against him, which was how the two ended up falling asleep, worrying about the consequences of their actions later. Tomorrow was a new day and the day they would part, which should be forever, but neither was going to be able to not let the other go. They would find a way to see each other. For Esmeralda, she couldn't wait to finally go against her father's wishes. She had always wanted to put him in his place and now she was going to get her chance.


	5. Part 5

**Forbidden Love  
Part 5**

Life seemed to be back to normal, but really it wasn't, at least not for Ikkaku. Since returning back from his mission of protecting the Princess of North District, she was often on his mind and it drove him crazy. He would dream about her often and never would forget their departure. They departed with a bittersweet farewell. Although to those around them, they'd think the farewell was fine, but it wasn't. Neither one wanted to leave. As his thoughts continued to think of the beautiful Elven Princess, he thought back to their departure.

_[Flashback]_

Once saying goodbye to Esmeralda's parents, the King and Queen of North District, Ikkaku made his way out of the castle, but soon was stopped by Esmeralda.

"Ikkaku!" she called, running towards him, heels clicking the floor. Her hands held her skirt, allowing her to run without tripping over the gown. She couldn't very well give him her farewell in front of her parents as what she wanted to say was completely against the law. What they already did was enough to have him banished from the Seireitei and perhaps executed even.

He stopped at the sound of his name, turning to see her rushing towards him. He barely had time to steady his balance before she slammed into his body, arms wrapped around his neck.

"Esme!" he gasped, completely puzzled by her body slam.

"You can't leave without saying goodbye to me," she rushed out, face buried in his chest. She then looked up. "Not without one last kiss."

He looked down upon her, eyes softening. "No, I can't allow that, now can I?"

"No," she agreed. "Besides I'm the Princess and what I say goes."

His arms wrapped around her waist as he smirked. "Well excuse me Princess," he teased. "And what pray tell did you want me to do?"

She smiled at his joke. "You are not allowed to leave until you give me one last kiss," she demanded with a bright smile.

His eyes brightened as he leaned down. "Well then, I guess I can't disappoint my beautiful Princess now can I?"

"Nope!" she did her best to lean up, trying to meet him half way but unfortunately she had to wait for him to lean further down before he could claim her lips.

The second their lips were touching; she was quick to open her mouth, allowing him to drive his tongue into her mouth and meet hers to battle. His arms tighten as he lifted her up, feet leaving the floor. She had no choice but to trust in his strength. Her arms tightened around his neck as the two continued to kiss until their lungs forced them apart.

"I'll miss you," he breathed.

"Me too," she breathed back. Removing one arm from around his neck, she reached into a hidden pocket of her gown, pulling out a small ring made of gold with a blue stone on top. "I want you to take this."

He looked at it. "What's this?"

"What I told you about," she replied. "This should allow you to open a door back here so we can visit each other. All you do is press on the top and a doorway should open. At least that's what I was always told."

Carefully he set her back down on the floor, removing his arms from around her waist. With his hands free, she took one hand, sliding the ring onto the middle finger. He watched with interest as the ring slid easily onto his finger.

"My Captain will question the ring," he said.

"Then tell him it was a gift from my father as a thank you for protecting me. I'm sure with that, you should be able to get away with it."

He thought for a moment. "I suppose that could work. Captain Komamura probably can vouch with that. He is, after all, from this country."

"You mean Sajin Komamura?" she blinked. "Yes, he's from here. I haven't seen him in many years. He's a Captain?"

"Yes, Captain of Squad 7. Had no idea he was a Wolf though until just recently." The hand wearing the ring reached up with the backs of his fingers caressing her cheek. "I'm going to miss you a lot. I wish I didn't have to leave."

She leaned into his caress, eyes closing. "I'll miss you too. I love you Ikkaku."

"I love you too," he whispered, leaning down to claim her lips once again. However this time, it was a kiss of passion but of gentleness and something to be desired for. She knew the 'real' Ikkaku who now didn't always love battles, but also was gentle which was something not normal for Squad 11.

Taking a deep breath, he backed away. He had to leave. His mission was over and the Head Captain was expecting him back in three days. He gave her one last lovingly look before slowly turning away to leave.

Tears came to her eyes as she silently watched him turn away, leaving her there in the hallway. She hoped he would use the ring and see her again. But she would never know when that would be.

_[End flashback]_

Looking out through his room in the Squad barracks, Ikkaku watched the sunset. Unconsciously his fingers fiddled with the ring on his middle finger. Indeed Esme was correct, when he returned home, he was questioned about the ring but Sajin had came upon the two and said getting a gift from the King of his country was a great honor.

With a snort, Kenpachi had turned away, giving an 'I don't care' attitude. But as the large man walked away, the Lieutenant, who was on his shoulder, just had to throw her two cents worth in saying how Ikkaku now looked like a girl with a bald head. Ikkaku, as usually wasn't impressed with the comment but there wasn't anything he could about it, though if any of his Squad members said anything, he'd kick the crap out of them for speaking such words.

In the following months upon his return, he never had a chance to try the ring as the entire Seireitei was thrown in a great battle when the Bounts. With their meddling, he didn't have much time to miss Esme. But now the Bounts were gone, life began to get back on track. And with that, the members of Squad 11 finally realized he was wearing a ring and would tease him, but he'd threaten to kill them, which was quite typical of him to do so.

"I miss you," he whispered, thoughts returning back to reality.

"Miss who?"

Ikkaku snapped around, finding Yumichika leaning against the doorway of his room, arms crossed, one leg curled around the other.

"What the hell are you doing here?" snapped Ikkaku.

Ignoring the man's harsh words, he pushed himself up away from the wall, walking further into the room. "Just checking in on my friend." He stopped just before his friend. "Ikkaku, I've noticed something about you since returning from the North District. I've actually caught you playing with that ring. I don't believe anyone else has noticed though."

Ikkaku looked down at the ring on his hand realized he was indeed playing with it. Clenching his fists, he threw his arms to his side. "What do you care?!" he hissed.

"Why do I get the feeling protecting the Princess wasn't the only thing that happened," Yumichika threw out. The man was quite smart and he knew his friend all too well. Not much could get by him.

Ikkaku's eyes widened before he turned away from his friend. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

Yumichika sighed. "I knew it. While you were on your mission you became attracted to someone. Someone who owns that ring."

"How the hell do you know that!?" he yelled, whipping around, ready to strangle his friend.

Yumichika never flinched as he gave his friend 'I'm bored' type look. "Just the fact you're immediately getting defensive on the topic. You're just lucky that no one knows you as well as I do. She must be extremely beautiful if you're risking execution for it."

Ikkaku knew his friend was right. Yumichika was quite observant even when he didn't show it. His shoulders slouched in defeat. "She is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. She makes all the female Soul Reapers look pitiful."

Yumichika's eyes widened in surprise. "I'd say she must be if you're saying it like that. If Rangiku heard you say that, I'm sure sh'd crack you one."

"Probably her breasts would knock me out before here fist would," Ikkaku stated.

"That's probably true, her breasts are quite large. It's a wonder she can keep them in her clothes," Yumichika replied back. "However, her right hook is quite nasty."

Ikkaku nodded as he began to fiddle with the ring once again as he took a seat on a chair nearby. "Esme and Rangiku probably could be good if the two had to go up against each other."

"Esme?" blinked Yumichika.

"It's what I call her. Her full name is Esmeralda, the Princess."

"The Princess!?" he squeaked. "I thought it was someone from the court, not the Princess! Ikkaku do you realize…"

"I know," he sighed. "If anyone were to know I've fallen for a Princess, I'll be executed without a second thought."

Yumichika couldn't believe it. Never in his wildest dreams would he ever thought to see his friend fall for a woman. He was too much of a proud warrior to ever fall prey to a woman. Putting his fingers to his forehead, he sighed. "And why do you say she could stand up to the Lieutenant of Squad 10?"

"She's got powers like a wizard, but she's born with this power and this ring has magical properties," he admitted.

This was intriguing. Looking to his friend, Yumichika just had to ask. "What sort of magic?"

"Supposedly, I touch the top of the ring and it will make a doorway to North District in an instant."

"You mean like just walking out into the hallway?" This was something enemies would want to have.

"Yes. It's been two months since I last seen her and I keep dreaming about our last night together."

"Together?" Yumichika furrowed his brows. "Did you two do…"

"NO!" Ikkaku snapped, glaring at his friend. "Get your damn head out of the gutter! We just slept next to each other after I purposely soaked threw her in the hot springs."

"You threw a Princess?!"

"She tossed me first!" Ikkaku immediately defended. "She had to pay!"

"How did she manage that?" asked Yumichika, amused by this story.

Ikkaku glared at his friend. "That's something you don't need to know." He wasn't about to tell his friend a pretty woman distracted him with her addicting lips, allowing her to toss him.

Yumichika lifted his hands in a defence. "Fine, have it your way." He then sighed, face turning sober. "So what are you going to do now?"

Ikkaku leaned back in his chair, arms going up behind his head. "Honestly, I don't know. I want to see her again. But that's a major risk. I've already broke just about every law in the Soul Society as it is now."

"That's true," Yumichika agreed. "However, you do have the ring, which she said can open a doorway. You could go and visit her and be back here before anyone notices."

Ikkaku blinked. He was shocked his friend would suggest something like that. "Are you serious? What if someone were to ask about me?"

"Ikkaku, when have I ever left you astray?"

He quirked a brow, before pulling his arms forward, looking to the ring once again. "Never. You've always been able to come up with some sort of excuse. But you realize if you help me, you'll…"

"Be brought up on charges too if caught," Yumichika finished for him. "But what's the fun, if not playing a little risk in life?"

Yumichika was right. Squad 11 were the best risk takers in the whole 13 Court Guard Squads. "You know, you're right. Squad 11 is a risking business and if we don't take risks, we'd think ourselves as wusses."

"And we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

Deciding, Ikkaku stood and walked over to a wall. "I'm going to go and see her. She won't be expecting me, but I'm sure she'll forgive me."

Pressing his finger against the ring, he closed his eyes, hoping it would work. Yumichika watched in amazement as a black door way appeared against the wall. "Amazing," he breathed.

Opening one eye, Ikkaku saw there was a black hole before him instead of the wall of his room. His other eye was quick to open as he smiled and with no more than a 'goodbye' to his friend, he stepped into the black hole, disappearing, leaving his friend to now come up with an excuse.

* * *

Relaxing in her room, her mind was constantly on the man who captured her heart. He was bald and very rude and aggressive but incredibly handsome. Since the day he left every night her dreams were plagued of him. But the last two nights were more than just about him. This time they were dreams making her wake in a sweat and completely aroused.

For Esmeralda to dream about a man she didn't know that well, she often was treasuring her dreams and even more so in the last two nights. She was 500 years old and never slept with a man before and yet that was exactly what was happening in her dreams.

Sitting on her bed, Esmeralda began to feel excited yet again for the third time that day since waking from her last wonderful dream. Not thinking twice and knowing she was totally alone, her hands reached up towards her breasts just as black hole appeared against a wall facing her bed. Her hand was in mid air when someone emerged from the black hole. A dignify scream escaped her lips, not really paying attention to who was now in her room.

He wasn't in the room two seconds when his hands lifted up to slam against his ears from the piercing scream. He cringed for a moment before slightly looking to see Esme there on her bed, producing the sound. Knowing the guards probably would hear her; he jumped over to the bed, clamping a hand over her mouth, silencing her scream.

"Shhh!" he hissed. "Esme! It's me! Ikkaku! You said I could visit!"

Her screams stopped as she looked at the man she was just thinking about. Slapping his hand away from her mouth, she glared at him.

"You scared the crap out of me!" she growled.

"Hey!" he snapped. "How the hell was I supposed to know you'd jump like that? I can't very well say 'Hi, I'm coming over, don't scream and alert the guards'."

At the mention of the guards, her eyes widened. Her scream probably did alert the guards. Rolling off the bed, she swiftly grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her private bathroom, pushing him without giving him a chance to say a word. "Shut up and don't say anything!" she hissed, shutting the door on his face.

She stepped away from the door, just in time for three guards to bust through into the room. "Princess!".

"It's ok!" she rushed out. "Sorry for the scream."

"What happened?" the closest guard asked, eyes scanning the room.

"I kind of dozed off and had a really bad dream, waking me with a scream," she lied.

"What type of dream would do that?"

"Hello!" she got angry. "Are you stupid?! I do have a fear of spiders!"

"A dream about spiders. You do have them." The three guards relaxed, stepping towards the door. "We're sorry to bother you." Not once did they turn their back until they were completely out in the hall. One guard then shut the door and she could hear their feet walk away from the room. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Once it was safe, the bathroom door opened and Ikkaku emerged. "Bad dreams about spiders?" he inquired.

She whipped her head around, glaring at the man. "It worked, didn't it?"

He smirked as he leaned against the doorframe. "Guess we both know this ring works," he stated, showing the ring.

Her anger slowly vanished as her eyes fell upon the ring on his finger. Her lips formed a smile, finally realizing he actually came to visit her, just like she had hoped, but why the two-month delay? "Why now to visit?" she asked stepping closer.

He moved himself off the frame, stepping towards her. "Short version humans with supernatural powers broke into the Soul Society, trying to create all sorts of havoc and we had to stop them before the Seireitei was destroyed."

The two stopped mere inches from touching but neither moved to take that final step. "At least you're ok," she quietly replied, itching to touch him.

He gave a slight nod before finally taking that last step; one hand lifted up to trace his fingers along her cheek before his palm settled against the side of her face, fingers landing in her hair. "I've missed you," he stated.

"I've missed you as well," she agreed.

"I was glorious as always when we found the Bounts," he remarked. "Bunch of pushovers. One of the Bounts was actually a former Soul Reaper in my Squad, the traitor."

"Bounts? That's a weird name," she blinked. "You had a traitor?"

He nodded. "Yeah. And the traitor was known as Maki, but my Captain kicked his ass permanently."

"Wonder what had crawled up his ass?" she asked.

He chuckled. Removing his hand from her cheek, it fell to her hand, grasping it. He then pulled her to her bed, taking a seat. "He disliked our Captain for killing the former Captain of Squad 11 in a fair 'to the death' battle in front of 200 Squad members and he never forgave or forgot it. But it was perfectly legal."

She leaned her head on Ikkaku's chest. "Poor loser. When a monarch kills another and becomes ruler, we must obey or we're killed for not accepting it."

"Sounds like you agree with Captain Zaraki then," Ikkaku smirked, leaning his head down, kissing her head. "I wish I could stay longer, but I can't. I need to return soon. My best friend has learnt of us and is covering for me. I don't want to leave him high and dry."

She lifted her head, nearly brushing her lips to his. "Nice friend," she breathed.

His arms slid around her waist, no longer able to hold back. He was fast on closing the gap, pressing his lips against hers. Oh, how he missed her delicious lips. A soft moan escaped from her as she opened her mouth, allowing him invitation to have a new battle of the tongues, which he was quick to receive.

Her arms snaked around his waist as she lifted herself up to straddle his lap. Doing so, allowed her to move her arms to wrap around his neck, pressing herself even closer. He would have gasped if not for his mouth tightly against hers. Her movement alone, he felt himself become aroused. Unfortunately for him though, he was far too into the kiss to try and push her away before she realized anything.

She felt her own body become more excited than it already was the second she felt something press against her. She pulled away from the kiss but not the embrace.

"Someone really likes me," she cooed.

He growled, realizing she was now teasing him. "You have no idea."

"You're being really naughty, trying to seduce a Princess in her own bed chamber."

Getting an idea, he tightened his hold on her and suddenly twisted around so she was laying on the bed and him on top of her. "Now, this is seducing the Princess," he quietly hissed.

She released a quiet gasp, feeling him so close to her. Her body began to tremble as she remembered her dream.

He smirked once again, lifting himself up completely off her. "Don't start something you can't finish your highness."

Immediately missing his warmth, she snarled. "Bastard."

"As much as I would like to stay longer, I really should leave," he said, ignoring her insult to him. Of course he had to leave, leave to take a really cold shower before Yumichika caught him and teased him more.

She pouted, really wanting him on top of her again. "Do you have to?"

He smirked again, enjoying seeing her 'puppy dog' look. Stepping towards her again, he kissed her pouting lips. "Unfortunately, yes. I would love to remain here longer, kissing these kissable lips, but I need to head back."

"I'll miss you," she said.

"Same to you," he replied. "But now that I know this works, I'll try and visit more. The Head Captain thinks Aizen is soon going to strike so we have to be prepared for that."

"I hope you kill him," she shivered.

"We hope to stop him," he agreed.

She leaned forward, kissing his lips once again. "I'll be thinking about you."

"You better," he stated as he pushed on the ring once again, creating the doorway. When he had emerged before, it had closed immediately behind him. Taking a deep breath, he stepped away from her once again like before, making his way to the black hole, taking him back to his room in the Seireitei.

Once he was gone, Esmeralda stood for a moment before turning flopping herself back on her bed, face first. She was now so aroused and there was only going to be one way for her to get rid of it and she really didn't want to, but she now had no choice. Ikkaku was driving her insane.

* * *

For a month Ikkaku and Esmeralda saw each other in secret with only Yumichika being the only person who knew. During that time, he would visit her as often as he could. The two would share many passionate kisses and the occasional flirting, which always ended with them both aroused. He would leave at that point promising to return. He would never really tell her he was leaving because he needed an extremely cold shower. She on the other hand would always do the job herself for herself until she felt better.

Also during his visits he would tell her about his adventures as being a Soul Reaper, including how he became one, which was after Kenpachi became Captain. Her favorite stories were of him telling her about how he met Ichigo and how he saved Rukia Kuchiki, a noble of one of the great noble houses.

Things began to heat up in the Seireitei but his feelings for Esmeralda were still getting stronger by the day. Luckily for him though Yumichika was the only who noticed Ikkaku's 'love sick' problem. But the beauty man was also getting tired of seeing Ikkaku act so moppy when he wasn't near the woman he cared for.

"Ikkaku, you have to do something about this problem of yours," Yumichika finally said when the two were alone in Ikkaku's room.

"What the hell are you talking about now?!" the bald man snapped.

"You and Esmeralda," Yumichika replied. "That is what you said her name was, didn't you?"

"Yes, that's what I said," he hissed. "And what problem do I have?"

Yumichika rolled his eyes. "The fact you're in love with the woman and man I'm telling you, you have it bad."

Ikkaku wasn't sure what to say about that. His friend was right, but he really didn't want to admit it and now Yumichika was majorly pointing out the obvious, forcing Ikkaku to see the truth whether he wanted to do or not.

He sighed, lowering his head, causing the light to slightly shine off the top of his head. "What do I do?"

"You have either one of two choices, go to her and deal with this matter before you're caught or stop seeing her all together. The more you do, the more you return missing her more."

Ikkaku let the room go silent, thinking on his friend's words. The man was right. He had to something, but what? What could he do that would not get him into trouble? Or at least be sure he wasn't executed for being in a forbidden love affair. Taking a deep breath, he looked up.

"I need to see her, talk to her about this," he said.

"Well you do have three days leave," Yumichika said. "And then we're being sent out on assignment to the World of the Living. You were the one who told the Head Captain about the Arrancar you fought when you were protecting her and now Arrancars are appearing in the World of the Living."

Three days… Three days to be with his Esme. That could work in his favor. If he could figure a way to arrange something with her in that time without getting either one caught, perhaps he would never be caught…

Getting up, he went over to his bed; pulling out the ring she gave him. After the first time he visited her with the ring, he decided to not wear the ring, as the gossip of him wearing it was never stopping. In seconds he activated the black doorway.

"Tell the Captain, I've decided to take my three days leave to explore around the Rukon. This upcoming battle could be the last."

"That it could," Yumichika smirked. He had an idea of what the man was about to do, but at the same time he hoped he wouldn't do it.

Ikkaku stepped away from his friend, going straight over to the black hole, entering it. As the times before when he walked through it, he felt his body tingle from what felt like microscopic electric currents. Soon though the tingles faded as he walked through a white hole, ending up in Esmeralda's bedroom once again.

Unlike the first time going through, scaring the hell out of her, his sudden appearance didn't freak her out anymore. Instead, immediately upon seeing his face, she'd rush off the bed, jumping into his arms.

However, this time was slightly different. With his mind slightly occupied in what to do, he didn't brace himself and the second her body collided with his; he lost his footing, crashing to the floor with her on top.

"Someone seems a bit off guard today," she teased, kissing his cheek.

"Only because a sexy, beautiful woman is constantly on his mind," he replied, getting his bearings on his surroundings of being on the floor.

She giggled. "Are you flirting with me?"

"Esme, we have something to talk about," he said a bit seriously. "I have three days leave and I'm spending it with you, but once I leave, I could be killed in the line of duty as we have to go the World of the Living to help Ichigo. Aizen is getting ready to attack."

She gasped, moving to sit on her own, instead of laying on him. "I don't want to lose you."

He saw her head lower down in sadness. Sitting up, he stretched his hand, fingers lightly touching her chin, lifting her head to look at him in the face. "And I don't want to lose you either, but being a Soul Reaper, there are risks involved. And I'm a Squad 11, a warrior to die serving my Captain."

She nodded in understanding. "But what can we do?"

He shook his head, thinking. What could they do?

"If only there's a way to make it that if we were ever caught, neither one of us would get in trouble," she continued.

Without getting into trouble? His eyes widened, idea suddenly came to mind. Crawling up on one knee, he grabbed her hand.

"Marry me."

Her heart nearly stopped beating. "Marry… you…"

He brought her hand up to his lips. "Yes. Marry me. If we were married then neither your father nor the Head Captain can say anything. Yumichika said to me to come here and do something about this situation and this is what I've come up with."

She listened carefully. Would marriage be the answer to their problems? If they were married, her father wouldn't hound her to find a partner. She never had the chance to tell Ikkaku about her father trying to put her into an arranged marriage and was constantly inviting possible suitors to the palace for her to choose from but if she wouldn't choose soon, he'd choose for her. But she didn't want that. And now Ikkaku presented her something, she wasn't sure what to do about it.

"I…I don't know what to say," she finally said.

Still holding her hand, he stood, pulling her to him. "Esme, don't think I don't know what is going on. I've noticed each time we're together, you're right happy but when I leave your eyes are telling me not to. Yumichika told me most Princesses are forced to marry in arranged marriages and I fear that is what is happening to you. Am I right?"

She gasped. "H…how did you know?"

"Like I said, Yumichika told me," he replied.

Her heart began to race. Ikkaku knew and she didn't have to tell him. But now there was one question running in her mind. Was he saying that to get her out of this arranged marriage or was it for something else? "But…" she didn't know what to say.

Almost as if he was reading her mind, he softly smiled at her, which was not common for him to do so, but for her, he would run through fire. "I'm asking you to marry me because I want to marry you. I love you Esme and want to be with you. Marriage is the only thing I can think of that we can be together and I won't be executed for my feelings."

Tears fell from her eyes as she hugged him and he embraced her back. "I don't want to see you hurt because of me."

He held her tightly, doing his best to ignore how comforting her breasts felt against his clothed chest. His mind was trying not to imagine what they would feel like without clothes covering either body. "But I hurt when we're away from each other," he admitted, against her neck. "I love you," he repeated.

Hearing him say those words once again, more tears fell as she hugged him tighter. She felt in heart he was telling the truth. It even settled her mind, feeling that he didn't want to marry her because of what she was assuming. "I love you, too," she cried. She then smiled as she continued to cry. "Yes…yes, I'll marry you."

He pulled back, not sure if he heard correctly. Taking her face in both hands, he forced her to look at him. "What did you just say?" he whispered.

Her smiled widened. "Yes, I'll marry you."

He grinned, before crushing her body against his as his lips crushed hers in a searing kiss, sealing the deal of the proposal. She moaned into his kiss, griping the sleeves of his uniform. His hands slid from her face, unconsciously sliding up lightly touching the edge of her ears.

She moaned in lust feeling his fingers against her sensitive ears. She broke the kiss, breathing heavily. "I have to confess something," she whispered.

He looked at her, perplexed, wondering what she was going to say. "What do you mean?"

She took his hands, placing them right at her ears, taking his tips rubbing them against the points. "These…" breath hitched in her voice, "when someone rubs them, is very, very arousing."

He watched as her eyes widened like saucers, rolling into the back of her head. Her breathing became even more labored. Her hands dropped, allowing him to stroke her ears on his own accord.

"Yessssss," she moaned a bit loudly.

His hands suddenly snapped away from her head, as if he was afraid he did something wrong, but that wasn't the case at all. Her high moan was probably loud enough to be heard out in the hall. Grasping her hand, he looked at her very seriously.

She looked up at him. "Why did you stop?" she said almost breathlessly.

He smirked. "You're getting a bit loud," he said. "A guard could catch us."

The realization slammed into her like a ton of bricks. She unlocked her arms from around him, stepping back. She took a deep breath. "Ikkaku, can you do me a huge favor? Can you please go into the bathroom and wait until I say it's ok to come in."

He gave her a confused look. "What are you doing?"

She grinned. "You just asked me to marry you. Well we need to do this soon and fast. I want to marry you now. So I'm going to find a gown in my closet, put it in a bag…"

He gasped. "Are you serious?!"

"Yes," she agreed. "I know a place that can marry us and you said yourself you only have three days. We have to be married before you go back."

He nodded, sighing. "I suppose you're right. But why go into the bathroom to wait?"

She giggled. "It's bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress."

He then giggled. "You know I've heard that, but never believed it."

"Well you better." She then pushed against his chest, towards her bathroom. "Now, like I said. You have to go into the bathroom until I get everything ready."

Allowing himself to be pushed backwards, he continued to stare at her with love in his eyes. "Alright," he said. "I'll go, only for the reason my beautiful Princess wishes me to, not because of some weird tradition."

"I suppose that's reasonable enough," she said.

She stopped pushing him as he turned away, making his way to the bathroom, giving her time to rush around her room, gathering things she needed for their 'wedding night' and day after. She had never been with a man before, but she could see Ikkaku would treat her well.

Inside her bathroom, Ikkaku leaned his ear against the door, listening, trying to figure what she was doing. For the first time, he wished he had her acute hearing and then he could hear more in what she was doing in her room. Soon enough though he heard footsteps at the door. Realizing she was there, he jumped back, just time for her to turn the handle, opening it.

"I'm ready," she said with a grin. "Let's get married!"

He grasped her hand. "Lets! But where?"

"Let me see the ring." Luckily for her, the hand holding hers had the ring. Sliding the ring off his finger, she then placed it on hers and pressed on the stone. A black hole opened on her bathroom wall. She then took his hand. "We'll go somewhere to camp for the night and then get married tomorrow."

"That sounds reasonable to me," he said.

The two stepped through the doorway, arriving at an old house. One look around, he immediately recognized the place. He released her hand, turning to look at her. "Why here?"

She dropped her bag on the ground, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Because this is where you first told me you loved me," she admitted. "And tomorrow, we can travel towards that town we were at that took care of our injuries and the priest there can marry us."

His arms wrapped around her waist, lifting her so she was more to his eye level. "And we're completely alone."

Her heart began to hammer. "Completely. Nothing can interrupt us." From him touching her ears, she was still aroused from the simple touch. And she wanted him to do it more. She was going to give herself freely tonight to the man she loved.

Slowly lowering her back down to the ground, he lowered his knees until they were on the ground, pulling her down with him so her knees were too on the ground. His hands then lifted up, resting against her ears, fingers doing what they did before. He didn't need to be told, he was a man and he had been aroused by her looks many times and now he was going to act upon his feelings and nothing was going to stop him.

He lowered his head to her neck as his fingers slid across the tops of his ears, hearing her breath hitch in her throat. His lips began to touch her neck as moans escaped her throat and they were not quiet moans either…


	6. Part 6

**Ikkaku: Forbidden Love Chronicles  
****Part 6**

Waking after a complete night of endless passion, Ikkaku never thought in his wildest dreams how wild Esme could be even with her being a virgin, which she wasn't any more, not after last night. He now knew if she wasn't a Princess, she would have made a perfect Squad 11 member, giving many men of the Squad a run for their money. He was sure even Captain Zaraki would be impressed with her.

The warm body at his side shifted, throwing him out of his thoughts. Looking down to a very naked woman in his arms, he couldn't help but smile. She looked very peaceful and lovely laying there, sleeping with only a blanket to cover her nakedness. Reaching down, he lightly kissed her shoulder just as she moaned, indicating she was waking.

Feeling the light kiss, her eyes opened. Turning she looked at the man at her side with a smile. "Good morning my beautiful Soul Reaper."

"Good morning to you as well," he greeted back. "How do you feel?"

She smiled brightly, stretching. "Just great, since we're going to get married." She fully turned, facing him. "Are you ready to become my husband?"

He nodded. "Yes," he agreed. "I want to be your husband. I think about you too often. You're always on my mind." His hand reached out, to rest against her bare shoulder. "And you said we're going to the town that took care of our injuries."

"Yes, I did. We could get married right at that inn where he had that argument in front of others," she giggled.

"What!?" he blurted. "Are you serious!" He bolted into a sitting position taking the blanket with him, pulling it off her upper body as it rested more down in his lap and around her waist.

She didn't bother to hide her body as he already seen her and more. "What's wrong with it being there?"

He snapped his head around, gawking at her for a moment like he was just slapped in the face, stunned by it. Truth be told, he really didn't have any idea why he didn't want to get married there.

He opened his mouth to speak but when his mind could not come up with any protest against a reason why not, he closed his mouth again.

She quirked a brow. "Looks to me like you can't think of a good reason why not."

His eyes narrowed, anger getting the best of him again. "Look…"

She placed her hand against his bare chest, curling her body close to him. "Oh come on Ikkaku. We're soon going to be married and you want to get mad because of the location I picked? I know this land better than you do as you're three days travel away from here."

He knew she was right, but hated the idea of someone who wasn't from the Seireitei be right. Although, the woman was about to be his wife, he knew he needed to find some way to deal with the matter. It wasn't like the other men in the Squad where he could just snap and threaten to kick the crap out of them. She was different and more special.

Groaning, he turned his head. "Fine. Have it your way." Pulling the blanket off his waist, he moved away from their bedroll, standing. He didn't bother to cover up as he took a stretch. "Well we should freshen up, have breakfast and begin to make our way to the town then."

"Well to freshen up, we'll need to bathe…" she grabbed the blanket and brought it up to her face in a bashful like manner but she was being anything BUT bashful.

He whipped his head around to her. "Oh no you don't! Not that again. We're not having a replay of last night. You know very well if that were to happen, we'll never get married today."

"We were only kissing in the hot springs," she teased, remembering full well what happened.

"Kissing, my ass!" he snapped. "Yeah, kissing is what started but that wasn't all that happened and you know it, so stop playing little miss innocent with me."

When the two arrived at the old house, the two began to make out, like before but it soon turned to something more than just innocent kissing which led them making love right where they were, taking her innocence away. Later, she wanted to have a bath and asked Ikkaku to join her in the hot springs. He agreed and like before the two were relaxing but it soon turned away from being innocent when she began to nibble on his ear, which led to more kissing and soon enough the two were going wild. Eventually their wildness led them into the house where the two fell asleep.

"Party pooper!" she groaned, dropping her teasing. "Then I get the hot springs first!"

"You go and do that and I'll freshen up over by the river," he said, turning back around, grabbing his discarded clothes, folding them neatly nearby the door so he could dress into them when he was done bathing.

"The river!" she squeaked. "But the water is cold!"

"Yeah and it will work perfectly too to cool down my body from your constant teasing. Besides my body is tough. It's got to be to withstand the abuse Squad 11 deals with on a daily basis."

"You're not kidding, are you?" she blurted.

"Does it look like I'm kidding?!" he snapped. "Now the sooner we get cleaned up the sooner we can make our way to the village and then find someone to marry us. It's going to take a good portion of the day to reach there with Flash Step."

She sighed, standing up. It was a good thing the two were completely away from civilization. From her standing up, her entire body was in the window with the morning sun shining through, making her into a naked goddess. "Fine, have it your way." She stepped passed him, slightly swaying her hips. "Then later we can…" she winked. "We can enjoy one another's company."

He swiftly turned in a huff, heading straight to the river where he knew it was cold. His body was already reacting to her nakedness, causing his body to be aroused. But her body shining from the sun was too much. He had to get out of there and fast. A nice dip in the cold water would do his body some good. As he exited the house, he could see from the corner of his eye, her heading out as well, heading straight to the hot springs.

He continued his way to the river, doing his best to prepare his body for the shocking chill. It might have been warm out but always first thing in the morning the temperature was always cold. Once reaching the edge of the river, he stopped and looked at the water, trying to find the perfect place to jump in.

He was going to rush into the water without testing the water temperature. But to do that, he needed to find a deep enough spot to jump in without getting hurt. It was, after all, his wedding day. Tomorrow he would need to return back to the Seireitei before anyone was to find out he was missing. But he was going to return with a surprise.

Looking around, he soon found a spot where the water seemed to move slower than other spots. Remembering water seemed to do that when it was deeper, he took a deep breath before jumping into the deepest part, completely submerging himself.

As his feet hit the water, his toes felt the immediate chill and he gasped, taking another deep breath of air as his head went under. The water was a bit colder than his body was expecting. The second his head was fully under, his legs stung from the cold but he forced it down as his feet hit the bottom and he sprang his legs to resurfaced.

"SHIT!" he shouted. "That's cold!"

With the chill going through his body, the dried on sweat from the night before was now completely washed away. Even his own arousal was immediately gone. Lower regions shrinking to miniature proportions, which was something he totally hated.

It didn't take him long to jump back out of the water and out onto the dry clean ground of the morning sun. Feeling the sun beat on his body, helped to warm up his body. Knowing his clothes would warm him up faster, he made his way back to the house, knowing Esme was in the hot springs. Reaching the house, he heard a soft moan, which drew his attention to the springs.

Stopping just before the door, he glanced over to the springs, giving her a hard look. What was she doing? Was she doing what he thought she was doing?

With a smirk, an idea came to mind. He was going to chance it. "Hey!" he called. "You realize that's my job to do that, not yours. So hurry up already so we can get going!"

A loud squeak was heard along with a splash. "Ikkaku! You bastard!"

With a laugh, he walked over to where his discarded clothes, knowing full well he had just embarrassed her. He had to get dressed before she got out of the springs. The more clothes he had on, the least likely chances to follow through with what she had started. The two had a long day ahead of them and the sooner they were to get cleaned up and get some breakfast the sooner they could leave and return back to their love nest.

For Esmeralda, knowing she got caught, she dipped her head into the water, trying very hard for the warm water to wash away her flushed cheeks. He had embarrassed her and judging from his light laugh, he knew it. Then again, they did have to soon leave so she could become Mrs. Ikkaku Madarame. Remembering that, she resurfaced and felt giddy, like a little girl who just received her best birthday gift.

Grabbing her bathing supplies from the side, she quickly began to clean up, washing off all grit and dirt from last night's activities, knowing there'd be more of last night later on after the wedding. Of course she had a surprise in mind for Ikkaku for her wedding dress.

She did feel a bit saddened that she couldn't have the wedding of her dreams, but being with Ikkaku was worth the sacrifice. And when everything would come out in the open, which she knew it would, she could have her dream wedding and have her parents give her a way and make it a mile long wedding with all the trimmings and she could wear a fabulous gown. But for now she would settle for this sudden wedding and she did pick out a dress she recently purchased from a travelling salesman from another kingdom.

Not wanting to lose her focus, she finished up in bathing and soon climbed out, grabbing her towel she brought with her to help dry herself off a bit. She made her way towards the house to put on a clean outfit to wear for the travel. Reaching the house, she could see Ikkaku already preparing breakfast and he was avoiding in looking at her.

With a snort, she went inside. She was still slightly upset with him for embarrassing her. She went over to her bag, pulling out her clothes but made sure to keep her 'wedding' gown concealed. She did not want him to see it. Not until the time came for their wedding vows.

Swiftly getting dressed, she then made her way outside, carrying her bag with her. She was going to need it for the travel.

"Finally," he said, looking at her. "You're dressed."

"Oh, now you look at me," she huffed.

"I just didn't want to look at your sexy body and make mine react again. I have to head back to the Seireitei tomorrow," he replied, going back to working on breakfast, seeming to slip into a daze.

"Oh… right…" He was right; he did have to go back.

He only had three days off and tomorrow was the final day, which was the reason they were going to get married so in case they were caught, nothing could happen and he couldn't stop thinking about her like she couldn't with him.

Esme glanced at her husband to be, seeing he was staring off into space. She had a pretty good idea what was on his mind, but she just had to tease him a little more. "Hello, Earth to Ikkaku, are you there?"

Ikkaku blinked, looking up to Esme once again. "Oh…sorry… got sidetracked."

She planted her hands on her hips. "Oh really? Was it about me?"

"Actually it was," he admitted, giving breakfast another stir. Since they had to leave quickly the other day, they had to grab easy stuff so for breakfast he was making porridge. "I was thinking how I have to go back tomorrow, which means we have to be married today."

She sighed, teasing gone. She hated the touch of reality. "I'm going to miss you," she responded.

"I know." Turning his head, he spotted two unused bowls. Standing up, he moved over to the bowls then went back over to their cooking breakfast where he then scooped some porridge into one bowl and then into another. In his hands were also two spoons. He wasn't used to using utensils such as forks and spoons. He was more used to using chopsticks to eat. But being around Esme, he had to learn how to use utensils.

Stretching forward, Esme grabbed her bowl and spoon before taking a seat beside the man she loved. For a moment she hesitated, not sure if the food was more oatmeal or porridge. But once taking a taste, she found she liked it, realizing it was porridge. She did not like oatmeal and her being who she was, would always make a fuss about it. But since she was served porridge instead, she was relieved to know there wasn't about to be another argument.

"When we get in town," Ikkaku began after taking a bite of his porridge. "We should pick up some other food before returning back here for one last night. I'd rather not spend tonight having to hunt something to eat for dinner."

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea," she agreed. "This is our wedding night and I would rather spend our one night relaxing with you. This is our only chance for a Honeymoon."

"That is until we can have a proper one," he winked. "And for that, I think I'll take you to the World of the Living."

"You'd take me to the World of the Living?" she blinked, nearly choking on her porridge. "I've never been there before."

He smiled. "I know. You'll need a Gigai so the humans will be able to see you but the use of your magic will not be permitted. That's a sacrifice you'll need to deal with. I can't even use my Zanpakuto when in my gigai unless I'm to use it to speak with it."

She blinked once again. "Speak with it? What do you mean?"

"Every Soul Reaper can speak with their Zanpakuto. Well all except for Captain Zaraki. He doesn't know the name of his Zanpakuto or even how to release the Shikai. To speak with our swords, we need to go into a meditative state and we can do that even in our gigais but we can not release our Shikai."

"Speaking of your Zanpakuto. That day we were attacked by that…" He was quick to state what it was to her. "…Right, Arrancar. I recall you calling out 'bankai'. What's that?"

"Bankai is the final release of one's Zanpakuto. But it takes years to master and when one knows bankai, they can become Captain when the need calls for it."

"Then that means you can become a Captain!" she squeaked.

"I have no desire to become a Captain," he replied. "I will forever remain under Captain Kenpachi Zaraki's command until the day he's killed or I am. I wish to fight the man once again like I did before joining the Soul Reapers and kick his ass."

"But you have bankai," she tried to reason, creasing her brow.

"True. But it's not something I want advertised. There are only three people who know I have Bankai and you're one of them. My friend Yumichika is the other and the third is someone who was once in Squad 11, but transferred when he was promoted to Lieutenant of Squad 6, Renji."

"I can't understand how you can go around and not tell people about your amazing power." She was in disbelief he would want to keep it a secret. His power was amazing and it helped to save her life from the Arrancar.

"Because in Squad 11, we don't advertise our power. We have an unspoken rule that only people with non kido Zanpakuto may be allowed in Squad 11 and since our Captain doesn't have bankai, he'd be pretty pissed at me to know I've been practicing to achieve bankai, which I have known now for ten years."

"So, what you're saying is you prefer not to let others know in respect to your own Captain?" she ventured.

"Basically, yeah," he agreed. "And I don't want to become a candidate for becoming Captain."

The two continued to have small talk while eating until their breakfast was finished. Not sure what else more to say, Esme began to pack up their things, cleaning up around them. She knew Ikkaku was going to want to head out really soon. This was going to be a wedding, he wouldn't forget.

Soon the two were ready to go. She grabbed her bag and cuddled into Ikkaku's side as he wrapped an arm around her waist, being secure about it. He could remember the last time they flash stepped and she felt sick afterwards, which made him have to stop several times to let her get her bearings. He hoped that in time, she'd get over it, but for now he was keeping quiet and giving her his support about the matter.

* * *

After taking nearly six hours to reach their destination, the two finally arrived at the town they wanted to get married. Heading straight for the Inn the two were at the last time they were at, Ikkaku had Esmeralda take a rest in one of the lounge chairs in the lobby, allowing her time to rest her stomach from moving. While she rested, he went in search for someone who could perform the ceremony and to find two witnesses as well. Every wedding always needed two witnesses.

It took him nearly an hour to find what he needed and to pay for a marriage licence with money Esme gave him. The money he possessed was only used in the Seireitei and the surrounding area of the Rukongai. But outside the Rukon life was different and so was the currency. It was quite a lot like the World of the Living how that world had many different countries in which there were many different currency of money.

Now having good news to tell, Ikkaku rushed back to the Inn where Esmerlda waited. With a grin, he flash stepped over to her, startling her.

"Ikkaku! What the hell!" she snapped, heart racing.

"Sorry," he apologized, not meaning to scare her. "I have some news. Found someone to marry us and have witnesses. They'll be ready in an hour."

She blinked before releasing a squeal. "In an hour!?" She stood, pushing him out of her way. "I have to get ready!" She grabbed her bag and rushed off towards a room she had asked if she could use as she was going to get married. The Innkeeper had graciously allowed her to use a small room with a bathroom attached. The room was once used for renting but now it was used as a private office.

She knew she'd be ready on time but it was the fact she had to get her gown on and that alone was going to take some time since she had no one to help her. But she was going to make due. She had done it before she could do it again.

Just as she pulled her gown out, there was a knock at the door. Surprised by the sound, she stepped over to the door, opening it, revealing Ikkaku and a strange woman.

"Ikkaku!" she squeaked.

"Don't fret," he stated. "This lady is going to be your witness and she's offered to help you get ready."

The woman nodded. "Hello, Princess," she greeted. "My name is Brianna. I'm often the lady people use when they are getting married awfully quick."

Esme nodded, giving her a smile. "Thank you. Having you around will be a great help."

Ikkaku turned away; looking at his 'best man', wishing it were Yumichika instead, but this was desperate times. If the two were able to have a proper wedding, Yumichika was surely going to be the best man. He made his way over to the chapel to wait. Since he had no other clothes to change into, he was going to marry in his Soul Reaper's uniform.

For nearly the entire hour of waiting for the service to start, Ikkaku couldn't stop pacing, getting nervous as the minutes ticked down. He couldn't believe he was about to do this. He was about to go completely against the law and marry a woman who was completely forbidden to him. Although if the word were to get out of their union, he wouldn't be able to be executed… but what would stop the Head Captain from banishing him? He would have to find some way out of that.

"You'll wear out a hole in the floor if you keep this up," replied his best man.

Ikkaku snapped his head towards the man. "Look! You try getting married to a Princess and see how it's like!"

The man who was known as Kormin shrugged. "And I take it that you two are getting married against others wishes?"

"That goes way beyond against wishes," Ikkaku replied. "I could be executed on the spot for just kissing her."

Kormin cringed. "Guess it's not a good idea to travel to the Seireitei to become a Soul Reaper then."

"Being a Soul Reaper is my life," Ikkaku shot back.

"If everyone take their positions," the cleric announced suddenly as he entered the room. "The bride is just about ready. She has just entered the chapel and is waiting for everything to be set."

Ikkaku's eyes bugged out of his head. This was it. Time to drop the 'single' life and move on to married life. Beside him, Kormin stepped over, clamping a hand on his shoulder. "Well it's time. I wish you well in the future."

Ikkaku took a deep breath. "Thanks."

The two men stepped over to the cleric, the man who was going to perform the ceremony. Over by one wall an older woman stepped from out of nowhere. She walked over to an old organ, taking a seat, posing her fingers over the old keys.

Music soon began to play as Ikkaku and Kormin turned to witness the maid of honor step into the room. She had her hands clasped in front of her as she made her way 'up the aisle' to the alter. She was dressed in a simple solid color of purple, gown. Once she was standing opposite side of Ikkaku, Esmeralda stepped into the room.

Ikkaku's breath caught in his throat as he watched in stun amazement the beautiful Elven woman walking towards him. He never knew she had a gown quite like that. She wore a white sleeveless gown. The sleeves were designed in the same manner as the bodice with what appeared to be little flowers all around and small decoration that looked like leaf pedals. Just below the bodice, was simple and remained that way until reaching the thighs where again the same flower like design rested. The rest of the skirt flowed downward in a lace like fashion with more little flowers.

As she took each step towards him, he could see the gown move, but to him she was floating on air. Her hair was done up in a high bun with curls framing around her face. Flowers were placed throughout her hair to add more flare. To him, she was simply beautiful. No words could describe her beauty. He was sure Yumichika would be able to put her stunning looks into words.

He continued to gaze at her smiling face until she stood directly beside him. He took her hand, feeling a little light headed. The music stopped playing, indicating for the cleric to begin.

"We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in matrimony," the cleric began. "You two are here in front of these two witnesses to unite in marriage. Ikkaku, do you take this woman to be your wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

He took another quivery breath, knowing he needed his voice. "I do," he said slowly.

"Esmeralda, do you take this man to be your husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

She smiled, nervous but hiding it better than Ikkaku was. "I do," she stated.

"With your bonding words to your vows, I now shall give this time for the two of you to speak your own vows." The cleric knew the two were there on a quick decision and he wanted to hear their reasons why for their joining.

Taking her other hand, now holding both hands, Ikkaku looked into her eyes. "Esme. When I first met you, I didn't know what to think about you. You were hard to handle but that actually adds to your charm. I never met someone quite like you and I wouldn't trade those weeks spending with you for anything in the world. We haven't known each other for a long time, but the time I do spend, it's like I've known you forever. I promise to love you until the day I die and to protect you with every fibre of my being."

Her eyes began to mist over in unshed tears of joy. For a man who loved to fight and deal with blood shed, he sure had a tender side and it was all hers.

For a moment, the room was silent until the cleric looked to Esme, allowing her now to give her own vows. "Ikkaku…" she licked her lips as they went dry. "The day I met you, I was not expecting a gorgeous man like yourself. You abruptness was often a trigger to my anger but fighting with you actually was fun for me. I never met anyone quite like you who could stand up to my stubbornness and match it with his own. You're a challenge to me and I actually love challenges. When we're apart, you're all I think and dream about. You're my heart and soul and I can't imagine my life without you. I wish to be your wife and perhaps the mother of your future children and to hope they have the same stubbornness as their father who too loves to fight."

Knowing she knew his love for fighting and wanting the idea to have children with him and they grow up to fight like him caused a few tears to track down his face. The tears didn't last long as he quench down, killing his moment of weakness.

The cleric smiled. "Now I shall have the rings."

Esme gasped, totally forgetting about the rings. But with one look at Ikkaku, she realized he had already dealt with the matter. Both witnesses stepped forward, handing the older man each a ring. Holding the rings in the palm of his hand, he looked to Ikkaku. The rings were simple gold bands. Perhaps later the two could proper wedding bands.

"Now, place the ring on her finger and repeat after me."

Taking the ring, he slid it onto Esme's ring finger.

"With this ring, I thy wed," the cleric said.

"With this ring, I thy wed," Ikkaku repeated. Each word slightly getting quieter from being nervous.

The cleric looked to Esme as she took the other ring from his palm.

"With this ring, I thy wed," the cleric said.

"With this ring, I thy wed," Esme repeated.

The cleric then smiled. "By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Ikkaku blurted. He pulled the woman close to his chest as his lips quickly claimed hers. She was grinning when their lips touched and she was quick to respond back, not giving him time to do much else.

The three witnesses, smiled, watching while the two exchanged a long kiss. When they pulled apart, Brianna stepped forward, dragging a table over to set in front of the newly weds. The cleric then pulled out the marriage licence, setting it down, showing where the two were to sign their names. Once the two signed, their witnesses then signed where they were to sign. Afterwards, the cleric then signed before stamping a legal seal, making the licence a full legal document. He then got the four to sign another document where it was too sealed with the legal seal. The cleric needed his own copy as well as giving a copy to the newly weds.

During the entire time of the signing, the older woman played music from the organ but once the signing was over, the music stopped and she made a quick exit, disappearing as fast as she appeared.

"Come," Brianna announced suddenly. "We shall go to the dining hall and have a toast to the wedded couple."

"Good idea," Kormin agreed.

Ikkaku looked to his wife, smiling before giving a slight glare. "If anyone breaths a word about seeing tears, I'll kill them." He was referring to his moment of weakness.

Kormin blinked. "Is he for real?"

Esme giggled, looking to the male witness. "Trust me, he will kill you. He loves to fight." She turned her gaze to her husband. "Don't worry husband. I will not breath a word."

"Good, see that you keep to that word." Taking her hand, he then led her out of the chapel and down the street to the Inn's dining hall.

As the four entered the dining hall, there was a table set up for them saying 'reserved for wedding'. Esme blinked, surprised by this. She was not expecting this. But what really got her attention was a small cake in the middle of the table saying both hers and Ikkaku's names.

"I… don't understand," Esme stuttered.

Ikkaku grinned. "Your maid of honor here took the liberty of having a cake made for us. I know it's not much but it will do. So lets have a toast and cake."

"Well it was already made from the bakery. I just had the baker put your names on it and have it delivered here." Brianna walked over to the table, picking up a knife tied with a ribbon. The knife was something used in the kitchen. But adding a ribbon helped to decorate it up. "Come," she said. "Bride and Groom must cut the cake."

The two walked over to the cake as Brianna handed Ikkaku the knife. Esme wrapped her hand around the knife and the two pressed down on the knife over the cake, cutting it. Kormin then took the knife from Ikkaku's hands and sliced the cake up before announcing for the two to feed the other a piece of cake.

Ikkaku took a very tiny piece, feeding it to Esme carefully. He didn't want any of the icing to fall onto her beautiful gown. She carefully bit into the cake, taking great care not to drop anything. She then took a small piece and fed it to Ikkaku. Knowing his temper, she made sure not to smear him with cake. However if the time were to come where they could have a real wedding, she'd be sure to make it really worth the while, making where he couldn't retaliate in front of witnesses.

The people, who were also in the dining room, applaud to the happy couple as they fed each other cake. Soon drinks were handed to each person in the place.

Kormin lifted his glass looking at the happy couple. "To the bride and groom. May your days be grand as they are right now."

"To the Bride and Groom!" everyone in the room called out.

The happy couple sipped their drinks as Brianna then stepped forward, lifting her glass. "I hope you guys have a pleasant journey back to where you are going and I hope nothing too bad happens to the both of you. I wish you luck."

"Good luck!" everyone called out in the room.

Again Ikkaku and Esme took a sip of their drinks. They were now married and it was going to be a marriage Ikkaku was going to be sure it would last. Yes the threat of getting kicked out loomed over his head but that didn't stop him from being happy. Even if he was casted out of the Seireitei, he would have Esme to support him. However, he had a feeling Esme would help him out in that department. She was a Princess after all. Of course he hoped that no one would find out until way later. Of course there was also something else looming over his head… his upcoming mission to the World of the Living. Aizen was soon getting ready to attack…


	7. Part 7

**Ikkaku: Forbidden Love Chronicles  
Part 7 (final part)**

Being married surely had its advantages and one of those advantages was being able to wake up along side your partner. For Ikkaku it was pure heaven. Waking up beside his 'wife' was completely a sight to wake up to. She was his as he was hers. With an arm wrapped around her waist and her sleeping on his chest, he carefully lifted his free hand, looking at the ring now on his ring finger.

With a grin, his eyes averted down to his purple haired beauty on his chest. One hand was curled between the two of them while the other rested on his chest; right against the scar he received from Ichigo during their fist battle together when he was considered a Ryoka. That was one memory he would always have, which was the reason the battle scar remained though it could have been healed but he didn't want it to.

Remembering he had to soon return to the Seireitei, the arm on her waist slightly nudged her. "Hey beautiful," he said quietly, not wanting to startle her. "We have to get up."

She felt the nudge, hearing his voice, but she simply wasn't ready to move. Burying her head further into his chest, she muttered half sleepily. "No… not ready…"

He lightly smiled. "You don't want to sleep the rest of our time together. I have to head back to the Seireitei today."

Her head lifted up quickly, eyes fully alert. "Do you have to leave?" she slightly whined.

Reaching over, he lightly pecked her lips. "Unfortunately, yes."

She pouted. "No fair!"

"Life isn't fair. You knew I only had three days and today is day three. I do have about four hours before needing to return. Plus where you've been missing a couple days, I think the palace is going frantic about you."

"Shit!" she yelled very unlady like of her. She had been hanging out with Ikkaku too long. "They're going to kill me!"

"There's probably a search party out looking for you," he said, removing his arm from her waist.

During the whole time she was gone from the palace, she never once thought of leaving a note or telling at least one of her ladies in wait where she was. However, if she were to have told someone she was going away, someone would have stopped her and her parents would have learnt of her wanting to elope with Ikkaku.

Taking a few deep breaths, she looked to the window, seeing the beautiful sunny day with a few clouds slowly appearing. "Guess that is something I'll have to deal with. I did suggest the idea of running away with you." Holding her head high, she turned back to her husband. "Well, then so be it! If we get caught, we get caught. I'm your wife you're my husband. They can't touch us!"

Pulling both arms to rest against the back of his baldhead, he smirked once again. "Living on the edge, that's the way to go."

She turned to him surprised he could be so calm about it. With a sigh she pulled the blanket off her, moving to stand up. They had to again freshen up after their night together but this time it was going to be for a little while, as he had to get back to the Seireitei. She was going to miss him and miss him a lot.

"What you thinking about?" he asked, sitting up. He noticed her eyes seemed to stare off into space, looking as though she was lost in thought.

She blinked, turning her attention back to her newly wedded husband. "Oh… sorry." She sighed again. "I was just thinking about how much I'm going to miss you."

His eyes dropped, cheerfulness gone. "Yes, I will miss you as well. These past three days have been wonderful with you. Why don't we take a bath in the hot springs together?"

"Are you sure you want to bathe with me?" she asked suddenly, slight tease in her voice. "I mean yesterday you didn't."

"That's because yesterday was really important and today we part. I have to report in, in four hours and I'm sure about two of that will be hearing your parents bitch us out for doing what we just did."

Remembering about her parents an idea came to mind. "That's IF they catch us." She lifted her hand, revealing the transportation ring. "Remember we have this. We could appear in my room and you quickly leave before I'm revealed as getting back. Or better yet, can appear just outside the palace where we can open a door way to the Seireitei and you be gone and return back through the front gates."

He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again. That was a very good idea. And then it would appear as if she took off on her own, which he knew she had done that before in the past. Of course with Aizen on the loose, they could think she might have been kidnapped or something or worse, captured by the enemy since the talks a bit ago fell through.

"That's an idea," he finally said. "However, they may think you were kidnapped or something."

She smiled as she stepped over to him, leaning her head against his chest. "I was, so to speak. I was captured by the most sexy man in the Seireitei who is now my beloved husband."

"So in other words," he grinned, putting his arms around her shoulders. "You were captured by love."

She giggled. "Exactly."

He leaned his head down, kissing the top of her head. "Well we better get going to our bath before it gets too late. As I've said I have four hours before I need to report in."

She pouted. "No more fun in the sun…"

"No, sorry." He shook his head. "Fun time is now over. But I promise to keep in contact more."

She poked him in the chest. "You better! Your wife has a right to know what's going on."

Hearing her say that sounded strange but at the same time, exciting. It was going to be strange referring her as his wife and he has her husband. But he knew he would get used to it. With a heavy sigh, he kept one arm around her shoulders as he dropped the other, steering her towards the hot springs.

* * *

Once cleaned and dressed, the two gave one last longing kiss in front of their 'love nest' before Esmeralda activated her ring once again. She thought of a place she wanted to appear at and the doorway opened. The two, hand in hand, stepped through the doorway and it closed behind them, leaving the abandoned house back to being abandoned once again. The two soon appeared nearby a tree in front of the castle.

Back to civilization, Esmeralda took one look at the palace and frowned. "There's a search party out for me. I can hear voices and they're talking about me."

Ikkaku clenched her hand before letting go. "I better go before anyone sees us. Good luck." He turned to her, taking her other hand. She turned to him, giving him a sad look.

"I shall miss you."

"Same here."

Unknown to either one but just as they appeared through the 'black hole' doorway, someone else had arrived at the same time. The person saw the doorway and immediately found cover behind a tree and was now watching. This wasn't good. A Soul Reaper and an Elf had emerged and the person could see clearly the Soul Reaper was Ikkaku of Squad 11.

Ikkaku looked lovingly at his wife. "Well until the next time I can see you again. Dream of me."

"You can bet your sexy ass I will dream of you," she said. "I love you Ikkaku."

"I love you too," he responded as he leaned down, capturing her lips in his in a quick kiss.

Unknown to their watcher, while the two kissed, Esme slipped the ring off her finger, sliding it onto Ikkaku's. The two soon broke away before the kiss became more heated. Ikkaku reopened the doorway once again and disappeared through it. A tear slid down Esme's cheek as the door closed behind her husband.

The watcher ducked further behind the tree. "That was Ikkaku Madarame. Head Captain won't be pleased about this. The two ran away together and that's why she went missing. I better inform their majesties their daughter has been found and then quickly leave. It'll take me three days to get back to the Seireitei." The person kept his voice quiet as the Princess walked past him. Once she past the watcher, the spy disappeared from his position, using flash step.

Esme had no idea someone had suddenly breezed right by her as she approached the gates to the palace, but the guards noticed her. One of the guards, standing guard in front of the gates, looked to her.

"Your highness!" he blurted. He pulled out what looked to be a communicator. "Princess Esmeralda has returned. She's at the front gates!"

As if time stopped, the noises Esme could hear from within the walls went silent. She took a deep breath, knowing it was time to face the music. "Where are my parents?"

"Very worried about you your highness," the guard responded. "I believe they are in the throne room."

She nodded. "Let me in," she commanded.

The guard stepped out of the way as the gates slowly opened inward. The second the gates were far enough apart, for she stepped through the opening, revealing herself to be in the front courtyard of the palace. She ignored everything around her as she made her way towards the entrance to the large structure. Another guard at the front door opened the door for her to enter the palace when she was close enough.

She continued, not stopping until reaching the throne room where her parents waited. To her surprise though, there was someone else waiting with her parents and judging by the clothes, her heart suddenly began to beat wildly. The one with her parents was a Soul Reaper, one of Ikkaku's colleagues. This might not bold well for her.

"Where the hell have you been!?" thundered her father.

"Dear," her mother said to her husband. "You could've at least waited until she stopped walking."

Esme cringed but kept walking until she stood directly in front of the thrones. She looked straight to her father, but kept an eye on the Soul Reaper beside her father. What was his role?

"I'm waiting for an answer!" her father demanded.

"Father. Mother," she started. "I've been feeling lonely lately and just needed time to get away. You guys are so strict that I just couldn't stand it anymore."

"You want to know how worried we were about you?!" her father continued. "We thought you could have been kidnapped. We even sent out assistance from the Soul Reapers to search for you."

The Soul Reaper, standing beside the King, bowed his head in a silent greeting. He could now see why he just witnessed her and Ikkaku kissing. She fell in love with him and her family didn't know it. Well that was their affair. He had his own problems to deal with, mainly Ikkaku for creating a felon for dating a royal, which was strictly prohibited.

"I am a member of Squad 2," replied the Soul Reaper. "It is good to know you are safe and sound. I will rest a few hours and then begin to make my way back to the Seireitei to make my report and to inform Captain Komamura about his Princess has safely returned."

The King turned to the Soul Reaper. "Thank you for assistance though it was a waste of your valued time to come. Sajin Komamura was once a citizen here and is for that reason why we sought help from him."

"And Captain of Squad 7 then went to the Head Captain asking for someone to come here and now here I am and please don't worry about it. We are allies. Allies help each other."

The King turned to his daughter. "You are to return to your room at once where you are to be on house arrest!"

"House arrest!" Esme squealed. "You can't do this!"

"I can and I will," her father demanded. "Your windows will be sealed as will your doors, including secret passage ways. You will be escorted to meals and other needs outside your room. And you will have no contact with anyone outside these walls until I deem it worthy."

Esme's mouth dropped. "Mother, please…"

Her mother shook her head. "I have to agree with your father on this. You've gone missing for three days without a note or word on where you were."

Esme's face was bright red in embarrassment. Couldn't her father at least given her punishment in the privacy of just the three of them. Her father was completely humiliating her in front of a total stranger from the Seireitei. She swiftly turned on her heel, stomping her way out of the throne room. There was one thing going for her. At least her marriage to Ikkaku was legal and binding.

* * *

Stepping through the doorway back in the Rukon District, his heart to ached. The idea of leaving her there to face her family was something he didn't want her to face. But she was a grown woman and knew how to handle her parents better than he probably could. Ikkaku couldn't remember his parents. He had no idea what his parents once looked like. All he knew was once he was a man who lived in the World of the Living and was killed. But judging by how long he had been in the Soul Society before becoming a Soul Reaper, he only could imagine he lived in the living world a very long time ago, way back before probably Aizen was even a Soul Reaper.

The second the doorway closed, Ikkaku flash stepped through the city until reaching his quarters in Squad 11. He then removed his ring and the transportation ring, placing them in a secret compartment in a small Chinese box he had sitting on a desk. Only he and Yumichika knew how to open the secret compartment. And since Yumichika already knew about Esme, Ikkaku didn't mind hiding the rings where his friend could find them.

Once the rings were secure, he went and pulled out a fresh clean Shihakusho, putting the dirty one with the rest of the dirty laundry for Squad 11. He had a couple hours to report in, but he wanted to go and talk to Yumichika first. There was only one place the temperamental man would find his friend. The man who was obsessed about beauty would often be found sitting on a grassy meadow overlooking the training grounds for Squad 11.

Ikkaku wasted no time, leaving his room, heading straight to where he was sure his friend was. As predicted, his friend was indeed looking over the training grounds.

"You're back, I see," Yumichika said without turning. The man could feel Ikkaku's spiritual power. "You got everything worked out?"

"I did," Ikkaku replied, taking a seat beside his friend. "I did what you suggested. I married her."

Yumichika snapped his head to his friend. "You did what!? I said for you to confront her about your feelings not go and marry her!"

Ikkaku ignored the look from his friend and looked over the vast valley of the training grounds. "I did confront my feelings and for that we mutually agreed marriage was the best way to go."

"You realize how much trouble you'll be in if and when word gets out?" Yumichika was stunned and fearful for his friend. "You could be executed."

"That's why we got married. Our marriage binds us together and with her being of royal blood, I can not be executed."

"No but can be banished at least. Ikkaku your career as being Third Seat could be over."

"I don't care!" Ikkaku announced, finally looking to his friend. "My love for her actually draws deeper than my commitment to this Squad. I would crawl through a mountain of fire for her."

Yumichika blinked. "Where can I find a woman like that? If your love for her is more important than Squad 11, there's got to be something about her that's mesmerizing."

Ikkaku smirked. "More than you'll ever realize and damn she's good in bed. She's better than any woman I've had before."

Yumichika cringed. "Ahhh, too much information for my liking." He shivered. "I'll just take your word for it. Well until the cats out of the bag, your secret is safe. I won't say anything."

Ikkaku nodded. "The ring to get me back and forth is hidden in my little box. If something were to happen to me, I want you to go and inform her."

Yumichika's face went all serious at his friend's words. "I promise. Since she's your wife, she has a right to know."

"I just hated leaving her to face her parents. We ran away together and she didn't even tell her family she was leaving. I'm sure she's going to be in a whole lot of trouble."

"She risked a lot to be with you," the beauty man replied. "Why don't we go and bug Lieutenant Iba. I'm sure you could find ways to gloat at him for being a wuss and not wanting to remain in Squad 11."

Ikkaku laughed. "Now that sounds like a great idea." He jumped to his feet. "Time to give that sour puss a lesson for betraying our Squad!"

Yumichika laughed, getting up, following his friend to Squad 7 to go bug their Lieutenant. The three all used to be good buddies until Tetsuzaemon took the transfer to becoming Lieutenant of Squad 7, earning him the nickname from Ikkaku 'Jack of all trades'. After Tetsuzaemon was in Squad 7, their friendship changed where Ikkaku was always challenging him on who was the better man. Most of the time the two would end up drunk, whining at the other on who drank all the Sake.

* * *

Being married did have its advantages but right now it totally sucked out for Ikkaku. Three days had travelled by since he last seen Esme and he missed her terribly. But there was nothing he could do about that. He had to throw himself back into his work and do it like nothing bothered him. Yumichika, however, knew the man was frustrated but there wasn't anything he could do about that either. Ikkaku was back to full bloom with his work. The mission he was supposed to take to the World of the Living was postponed due to some technicalities.

"Ikkaku Madarame!" a voice called.

Both Yumichika and Ikkaku looked up. The two had been dealing with guard duty on the Squad 11 front gates. There before them were three members of Squad 2 with several members of the Punishment Squad as well.

"What's going on?" Ikkaku asked.

One closest to him stepped forward, pulling out a piece of paper. "We have a warrant for your arrest."

Yumichika's eyes widened in shock. What the hell was going on?!

"What the hell for!?" yelled Ikkaku.

No one would answer his question. Ikkaku pulled out his sword, ready to attack the members of Squad 2.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!?" A female voice called from above. He looked up to see Captain of Squad 2, Soifon. "You will not resist. Surrender your Zanpakuto and come quietly!"

"Tell me what is this all about!"

"You are a traitor to the Soul Society!" the short-tempered woman exclaimed. "And for that, you are to be arrested at once! If you tend to resist, we'll take the action as an act of cowardness, which will put shame onto Squad 11, further shame than already has been place!"

As he glared at the Captain, his own Captain came pushing through the gates. "What the hell is this all about?"

"Captain Kenpachi Zaraki," Soifon taunted. "You of all people should realize the dangers of the situation. You were already dutifully informed two hours ago something might be done well this is it. Arrest him!"

Ikkaku's jaw dropped as two of the Squad men stepped over to him, ready to grab his arms. "Captain! You can't let this happen."

Kenpachi was handed the arrest warrant. He read it through quickly. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Ikkaku. "There is nothing I can do. You broke the law. Ikkaku, you must surrender your Zanpakuto."

"Captain…"

Kenpachi shook his head as another Squad 2 member held his hands out to take his sword. Not wanting to do it but the fact his Captain was there he knew he had to. Snarling, he handed his sword to the man waiting for it. The second it was out of his hands, the two at his sides grabbed his arms.

Yumichika couldn't believe it. His friend was being arrested. But why? The only thing he could thing of was the Head Captain found out about Esme, only problem was, how did he find out?

Lowering his head in defeat, he allowed himself to be hauled away to a cell. Yumichika watched, saddened by his friend. He had to find out what was going on. Wanting answers, he stepped towards his Captain.

"Captain," Yumichika started. "Why is Ikkaku being arrested?"

Kenpachi turned to the 'beauty' man. "As you are best friends with him, I'll let you know, but you can't breath a word of this to anyone."

"Guess that would explain why Captain Soifon wouldn't answer Ikkaku's question."

Kenpachi nodded. "He's been arrested on a criminal offence."

"What sort of offence?" Yumichika's heart nearly skipped a beat. He had a feeling where this was going. The one thing Ikkaku feared.

"Apparently one of Squad 2's men went to North District because the Princess went missing. Just as he arrived, he saw Ikkaku kissing the Princess."

'Damn' Yumichika thought. 'I have to tell her.' Yumichika's eyes widened in shock. "This isn't good. Isn't that against the law?"

"It's forbidden," Kenpachi said. "Just as transferring powers to a human. I better go and deal with this matter. There's going to be a Captain's meeting about this." He turned, leaving Yumichika at the gates.

Once his Captain was gone, Yumichika dashed into the Squad barracks and made his way straight to Ikkaku's room. His eyes scanned the room, looking for the box Ikkaku explained to him on where the ring would be found. Finding it, he remembered his friend saying if something were to happen to use the ring and find Esme.

Opening the secret drawer, Yumichika saw two rings. One was clearly a wedding band, while the other was the ring he seen before, the transportation ring. Taking it out, he slip it on his finger and did what Ikkaku had instructed to do it for it. Soon enough a black hole opened against Ikkaku's wall and Yumichika wasted no time in stepping through.

He felt a tingling sensation as he passed through but did his best to ignore it. Soon he saw a light and continued going until he passed right through it, winding up in a bedchamber. There on the bed sat the most beautiful woman Yumichika ever saw. If she was Esme, Ikkaku was right.

"Who are you!?" she snapped, realizing it wasn't Ikkaku.

"Ikkaku was right, your beauty is beyond any words I can muster. You are truly beautiful." He had never seen an Elf before.

"You know Ikkaku?" she asked, slightly nervous.

"Yes. I'm Yumichika, his best friend and Ikkaku is in a whole lot of trouble. Princess, he's been arrested."

She gasped. "Arrested! Why?"

"Apparently you were caught. The day you returned from getting married, a Soul Reaper arrived here and witnessed you two saying good bye."

She gasped, jumping off the bed, turning away from him. "No!" Her mind drifted back to the day she was given her house arrest for disappearing for three days. Her 'sentence' was handed down in front of a member of the Seireitei. "Oh no!"

Yumichika was on high alert by her quick comment. "Oh no? What do you mean by that?"

She turned to him. "When I spoke to my parents one of your people was in the throne room. Father said he had a Soul Reaper requested to search for me. He was a member of Squad 2."

Yumichika cringed. "Shit! And it takes three days to get from here to the Seireitei and that member must have gone straight to the Head Captain who then got Captain Soifon and she had Ikkaku arrested."

Esmeralda gave a look of horror. Ikkaku's worse fear was coming true. "He could be executed for this!"

Taking a deep breath. "Yes, he could. Esmeralda, please. You're the only one who can save him."

She noted he called her by her given name but chose to ignore the informality. Right now wasn't time to bitch about formalities. "What can I do?"

"Go to your father and tell him the truth. You being married to Ikkaku can save his life and perhaps his career." He reached over, grabbing her arm. "You're his wife and with that you have full authority to step into this." He paused a moment. "Wait… Isn't your kingdom in trade agreement with the Seireitei?"

She looked at his hand holding her arm before glancing up at him. "Yes! Yes, we do. I'm the heir to the crown and soon will be crowned Queen. Yumichika, I think you just found a way!" She then smiled, snapping her arm out of his grip. She quickly grabbed his hand, causing him to give a quick squeak of surprise as she pulled him towards her bedroom door.

With her free hand, she then banged on her door, knowing there was a guard outside. "Listen up! Open this door at once! I need to speak with my father! It's urgent!"

She gave a quick glance to Yumichika. "I'm going to assume you know how to flash step like Ikkaku?"

He gave her a questionable gaze. "Ye-s," he said slowly. "All Soul Reapers can. Well all except for Captain Zaraki. We of Squad 11…"

"Yeah, yeah. I don't need to hear it right now," she interrupted as sounds of the locks on her door were being opened. "I want you to flash step past the guards and straight to the throne room." She could already feel her stomach getting queasy but that wasn't about to stop her.

He nodded, getting himself ready. He watched as the doors opened, revealing two guards. "Why do you…INTRUDER!"

"NOW!" she yelled, as she closed her eyes getting ready for the motion sickness.

Pulling her tight against him, Yumichika suddenly vanished from the sight of the two guards. He had a general idea of where the throne room was but was going to need help once getting to the main floor.

"Take…a left…down the…hallway…after…getting…off… the last… stairwell…" she breathed, trying to hold her stomach together.

Another quick glance, he saw she was looking a little ill. Remembering Ikkaku telling him she had motion sickness when he flash step, Yumichika turned away, giving her some privacy over the matter. Taking in her directions, he soon found himself in front of two large doors and at the very top of the doors in fancy brushing said 'throne room'. He made it.

He released Esme, allowing her a few moments to catch her breath. "Ikkaku said you felt ill with this. I'm surprised you suggested it."

"It's faster and now it will take…" she breathed. "A few more minutes before the alarms are sounded of your arrival."

After taking several deep breaths, her stomach began to relax. She was now ready to face her parents. This was going to be tough. She straightened her posture, before pushing on the doors, entering the throne room. As predicted, her parents both swiftly turned their heads to her.

"What are you doing out!?" demanded her father. He then saw a strange looking man enter behind Esme. "What the hell…"

"Father. Mother. I have something important to say. You'll be furious with me for this, but I don't care."

Yumichika blinked, surprised by the way she was addressing her parents. He stepped to the side to wait.

Esme's mother, grasped her husband's arm, silently telling him to let her speak before he growled at her in front of another Soul Reaper. "What do you have to tell us?"

Esme nodded. She took a deep breath. She had one hand clasped in front of the other, hiding her wedding ring. Pulling her hand away, she lifted her ring hand. "I'm married."

Yumichika cringed as the entire room went silent. The dead eerie silence was so thick; he could cut it with his Zanpakuto.

She took the silence as a good sign to continue before her father found his voice. "Yes, I'm married. I actually left the safety of the palace with Ikkaku and ran away and got married. We've been married for four days now. And that Soul Reaper who was here three days ago reported this to the Head Captain.

Finally the King found his voice. "My daughter got married! To a…a… commoner no less!"

Esme's eyes narrowed. "I am 500 years old!" she snapped, finally losing it. "I'm not a child! Soon I will be Queen and one of the decrees I'll be making is banishing the law of having to marry a Prince or someone of high stature. I married for love and Ikkaku is who I choose!"

Her father's face began to turn red. He opened his mouth to speak but Esme wasn't going to have that happening.

"No father! You listen! For my entire life you've controlled everything I've done. I did not fight back on you when you put me on house arrest, because I knew what I did was wrong. I wasn't going to tell you about Ikkaku for a while but something has come up and I have to tell you about him. I am his wife and he may now be executed for his crime of loving me."

"So be it!" her father roared.

"No!" she stomped her foot. "He's my husband and if he's killed then trades to this country could stop and you know we can't survive without their alliance!"

Her father's eyes widened as he closed his mouth, gripping the arm of his throne. She was right.

"We have to travel to the Seireitei and stop that from happening. In just a few short weeks I'll be Queen. How do want his nation to be run? With or without the cooperation of the Soul Reapers? The choice is yours."

"Dear, how can Ikkaku get from there to here so fast?" asked her mother, trying to keep an open mind about all this.

Esme turned to Yumichika. "Show her how you got here."

With a nod, Yumichika moved from his spot to stand beside the Princess, showing them the ring.

Her mother's eyes widened. "The transportation ring. It actually works?"

"Yes and Ikkaku's had it since he left after he protected me for three weeks," Esme continued. "We can get to the Seireitei in the same manner. We also used this to run off and get married. I have the legal document proving we are married and it's binding, you can't break that."

"Do you really love this man? And does he share your feelings in return?" asked her mother.

"Your majesty," Yumichika said. "I'm Yumichika, Fifth Seat to Squad 11 and best friend to Ikkaku. I can vouch for him of his feelings for her. When he's been away from her, he mopes a lot and has talked about her non stop when it's been him and I. Sometimes he hasn't been able to get his job done properly and once I even overheard him talking in his sleep, speaking her name."

Esme whipped around. "He has done that!" she gasped.

Yumichika looked to her. "Yes, he loves you with all his heart and would die for you. He told me after returning from marrying you he would gladly give up being a Squad 11 member just to be with you."

"And I love him too," she said back. "I suggested for him and I to run away and get married because I want him so badly. He's strong and protective and though he doesn't like to show his feelings, he is someone who would crawl through fire."

Her mother gave a soft smile. "Dear, then you do what is in your heart. If you feel the need to save this man, then go."

The King whipped his head to his wife. "Are you serious!?"

The Queen looked at her husband. "Esmeralda is right. She is going to be Queen soon and we need to start treating her as such, not a child."

The King frowned, glancing between the strange Soul Reaper and his daughter. "Fine! But I will be going to!"

"We better hurry," Yumichika announced. "Ikkaku is about to be presented in front of the Captains. Central 46 was killed so commands has been decided between the ten remaining Captains and the Head Captain will want this dealt with swiftly." He turned away from the monarchs, activating the ring once again, showing how it works. He then stepped through, soon followed by Esme.

"Well dear?" the Queen asked. Not saying a word, the King stood and made his was to the doorway, as did his wife.

* * *

In the chambers where the Captains would meet, the remaining ten Captains stood. But they weren't the only ones; all 12 Lieutenants were also present. Right in the middle of the room was Ikkaku who had his hands shackled behind his back. The shackles were preventing him from using his power. He stood before the Head Captain, who was looking at him like a disease. This was so humiliating for him.

"Ikkaku Madarame," the Head Captain finally spoke. "You have been charged with treason. The crime you have committed is a high capital offence. Normally such extreme measures would be dealt with through Central 46 but as you know they were killed some time ago."

"Head Captain, please. What am I being charged with?" asked Ikkaku, dreading what this was all about.

"You are being charged with romantic involvement with a monarch, which is strictly prohibited."

The Lieutenants all silently gasped. This was not something they thought they'd ever hear in their life. Ikkaku lowered his head. Somehow they found out and now he was in serious trouble. His marriage was over before it began.

"What do you have to say in the matter?" the Head Captain demanded.

"Head Captain," Ikkaku began but abruptly stopped.

The doors to the room suddenly busted opened. All heads whipped to the sudden disturbance.

"What's the meaning of this!" Yamamoto demanded.

"Me!" Esme snapped as she, her father, mother and Yumichika marched into the room.

"Esme…" Ikkaku breathed. What was she doing here?

"You will not be doing anything to my…" she paused looking at Ikkaku. "Husband!"

"Husband!?" yelled out Kenpachi.

"Baldy got married?!" squeaked Yachiru as she jumped on Kenpachi's shoulder. "Way to go Baldy!"

Ikkaku snapped around to his Lieutenant. "I told you not to call me that!" he yelled.

The Lieutenants looked at one another, quietly whispering. This was even more shocking than the first surprised announcement.

"ENOUGH!" roared Yamamoto. "Ikkaku! You married?"

Ikkaku snapped back to the old man. With Esme there, he knew she had something on her mind. Standing straight up. He gave his confidence look. "I did. Though it wasn't supposed to get out."

"TRAITOR!" yelled Soifon.

"Not so fast, bitch!" Esme snapped at the short woman.

Soifon snapped to the Elven Princess. "What did you just call me?" she hissed.

"You heard me," Esme said. "You may not have Elven ears, but I don't think I have to repeat myself. You will not call my husband a traitor. I've done a little studying in the last few days while under house arrest about you people. I have learnt you once had a different Captain who left and you don't call her a traitor. So I would back off if I were you."

Esme then turned to the Head Captain. "In just a few short weeks I'll be Queen and if you wish for our relations to remain as stable as they are, you will release my husband. Yes, he did something against the rules, but didn't Rukia Kuchiki do the same thing and you allowed her offence off."

"That is a different matter," Yamamoto announced, knowing the girl was the Princess of North District.

"No, not really. Someone you thought you could trust, and that is something I totally understand, betrayed you guys. But you need to understand one thing. This man is my legal husband and I have the document to prove it. If you put this man to death, we may have no choice but to severe ties to this city. But you need us as much as we need you. You wouldn't want your best resource to be lost, now would you?"

Sajin stepped forward, wanting to finally say something. "Head Captain, Princess Esmeralda is correct. WE do need their support."

"I agree," Byakuya said, eyes closed. "We need the resources from North District."

Yamamoto looked at the large Fox Captain and then to the Noble Captain. He knew they were right. The resources from North District were important. He then looked to Esme and Ikkaku. His eyes caught the glance of her parents in the back of the room. He looked to the King and Queen.

"And what do you have to say to this?" he asked them. "You are her parents after all."

Esme's father stepped forward. "I'm furious by this new information, however I am soon stepping down and my daughter taking my place. I have the feeling she would have spoke about his secret marriage after she was made Queen."

Esme looked to her father. "You're right. I was planning on telling you the truth then and then informing everyone here about it. This was not how I wanted things to go down. But what is done is done."

Yamamoto took a deep breath. "Ikkaku Madarame. You shall be released…" Ikkaku looked shocked as a smile formed. "BUT, you will be forever…"

Esme's heart gripped her throat. She whipped around. "No!" she interrupted again. "You will not take away Ikkaku's rights of being a Soul Reaper. He is a good man and is a good fighter. He protected me for three weeks and even fought an Arrancar, saving my life, who words for your enemy Aizen. Aizen, is about to make his move and you need men like Ikkaku to protect those around."

"Hmmm…" Yamamoto hated being interrupted but the woman was right. There were problems of the Arrancars and a couple had already appeared in the World of the Living, but so far hadn't posed a threat yet. "So be it," he finally said. "Ikkaku will be released, keeping his rank and title as being a Soul Reaper. If his Captain wishes to punish him for his actions, he has every right to do so."

"Head Captain…" Soifon started.

"Release him!"

Soifon snarled as she stepped over to Ikkaku, unshackling him. "I will be watching you," she hissed in his ear.

Ikkaku ignored her as relief washed over him. The second he could feel his power return to him, he rush straight over to Esme, pulling her tight into his arms.

"Esme, I love you," he whispered to her.

"I love you back," she smiled.

No one had no idea who did the first action, however it was nearly pure immediate the two were kissing one another in front of everyone.

"Anyone got popcorn!?" blurted Yachiru. "This is better than a movie!"

Jushiro covered his mouth with the back of his hand, amused by the Lieutenant's outburst. He was thankful things were going to work out. He felt bad for Ikkaku and wished for things to work out and his wish came true.

"Now that's sick!" growled Mayuri, rolling his eyes. "Nemu, let's go. Nothing more interesting is going on here." He turned, walking past the King and Queen, making his way out.

"Yes, Master Mayuri," said the quiet woman, as she went and followed.

As Byakuya watched, his thoughts went to his deceased wife. He could remember going against the law with marrying someone from the Rukon District and then again with adopting Rukia into his family. He had no right to judge Ikkaku for his decisions and he had full plans to vote against executing Ikkaku.

Yumichika smiled, happy for his friend to had finally found love. Now the man could stop moping around like a wounded puppy, never shutting up how wonderful Esmeralda was. His constant jabbering about 'Esme this' and 'Esme that' was giving Yumichika a migraine.

When the couple finally broke off from their kiss, Esme looked to the Head Captain. "Head Captain, with your permission, I wish to have a formal wedding, inviting everyone and having you perform the ceremony. This is a perfect way to unite our lands into a never-ending alliance."

"Yes, that it would," Yamamoto agreed after several moments of silence. "I will think about your request and get back to you."

Ikkaku grinned as he pulled Esme into another loving kiss. She was truly the best woman he ever known and he never wanted to leave her side for anything. But he knew that wasn't going to happen. The threat of Aizen was looming closer and at anytime he could be sent to the World of the Living to assist Ichigo. But until then, Ikkaku was going to be thankful for what he was given. He was given a second chance, all thanks to Esme, his devoted wife. She was truly a beautiful blessing.

THE END

* * *

_Author's Notes: There is a sequel, "The Rescue" by Pikachu464 with my help in betaing_


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